Riddle Me This
by Kuroi Raikage
Summary: A simple mission turns into a struggle for survival when an enemy with riddles and traps torture a team of Konoha ninja. Can the leaf shinobi survive a test of strength and emotions, especially with their foe using personal knowledge for torture? NaruHina
1. Road That Lies Ahead

A/N: Okay hello everybody! D Here's my 2nd fanfic, my 1st on this site...enjoy!

Setting: Takes place after Naruto returns to the village from his 2 and a half year journey and right after his mission to the sand village. However, it is before his mission to rescue Sasuke.

**Riddle Me This**

Chapter 1:

Road That Lies Ahead

It was a peaceful day in the village hidden in the leaves. Nothing unusual at all. Children playing in playgrounds, villagers moving from store to store with carts, exchanging nice greetings and enjoying their lives. Some say that they are so happy because they don't know the stress of being a leaf shinobi. The fighting, the torture, the danger. Sometimes it's good to find a place, relax, and get away from it all. Many ninja have different ways of doing this, including one of the sharpest chunin around.

He yawned as sleepiness began to consume him. '_There's nothing more peaceful than this.'_ he thought. Laying on his roof, he watched as dozens of clouds flew through the afternoon sky. Cloud watching, his favorite hobby. To watch the fluffy white figures soar gracefully through the air, it is a wonderful sight. Well, at least it is to him.

Right before his eyes could shut and send him into a deep slumber, a familiar noise echoed through the air. '_I can't have just one moment of peace huh?'_ He sat up and looked around for the source of the noise. Finally, he found the messenger bird standing on the side of his roof. He walked over, grabbed the note on it's back, and send it flying back to the Hokage's mansion.

He unraveled the note and quickly glanced over the details. His eye stared at a rather important detail, his teammates. '_I just know this is going to be a troublesome mission.'_ He walked over to the edge of his building and rubbed his forehead. As he mentally prepared himself for his next mission, he saw someone who caught his eye. He brung his hand down and yelled from his roof. "Hey Kiba!"

Down below, Kiba stopped as he heard his name. He looked up to see his friend calling out to him. "Shikamaru, hey what's up?"

"We got a mission," he said while holding up the paper.

"Oh cool. So who's coming? Just the two of us?"

"Nope, there's more. We have to go pick up Hinata," he let out a long sigh, "and Naruto."

-:-

'_What to do? What to do? What to do?'_

She sighed as she laid in her bed thinking.

'_What can I do? I have to do something. If I don't then...then I'm just as weak as before.'_

This is her second day. Her second day of worrying, thinking, hoping. Not even leaving her room unless she had to.

'_Why am I even thinking like this. Why do these thoughts have to come up? Why am I driving myself crazy like this?'_

Because she can't help it. These questions have always been within her and now after two and a half years, they are all bursting out of her. For a second, she smiled as she thought about the one person that could put her through all of this.

'_Naruto-kun.'_

In the past years she has been training, training like she never did before. Through all her hard work and effort, she became chunin. She often wondered what helped her gain such strength. Was it that her crush's inspiring words and actions finally pushed her to reach her potential? Or was it that she was able to focus more once that certain someone was gone? Either way, she became stronger. Too bad training can't strengthen her emotions.

'_Finally, I see him after so long. I thought I had became stronger but the first time I see him...I just faint. It's always been like that. Maybe it always will.'_

She was definitely in a sad and gloomy mood. It's the first time she felt like this in years. When the thought of him pops up in her head, she's instantly hit with love, admiration, and happiness. However once those are gone, pain, sadness, and self pity emerge. Those were always tough emotions to take...and she'd give anything to get rid of them.

'_Naruto-kun, I'm sorry. It looks like I'm still not strong enough. I'll never be as strong as you. You will always be strong, confident, and brave. You never give up. Me...'_ she sighed, '_I will be the one in the corner, not strong enough to endure, not brave enough to fight, but happy enough to continue...to continue cheering for you.'_

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a loud knocks on her door. She took a second to calm down before she called out. "W-Who is it?"

"Nii-chan, you teammate is outside waiting for you. It's that guy with the huge dog."

"Kiba? A mission?" She stood up and walked over to the door. She opened it to reveal Hanabi, her little sister, on the other side. "Can you tell him I'll be down soon?"

"Ok I gotcha." her sister said as she rushed down the hall.

Hinata turned around and looked through some stuff in her room. '_A mission. Finally, something to take my mind off him.'_

She rushed to her closet to find a nice outfit to wear. She hadn't been on a mission in a while...or outside her house for that matter. Once she found her outfit she quickly put it on. Good thing she took a shower earlier. Kiba always complained about how long it took her to get ready. Once she was fully dressed she rushed over to her other closet. Good thing the Hyuga house is a big place. She opened the door and looked at all her weapons. Hinata was very organized, one closet for clothes and one closet for ninja tools. She grabbed as many kunai, shuriken, and paper bombs her pockets could hold. After she made sure she was prepared, she grabbed her already supplied bag and left her room, quickly running down the hall.

She didn't bother saying goodbye to her father. He just thinks that if she's not in the house, she's with her sensei or on a mission. As she exited the house, she looked across her large front yard and saw Kiba and Akamaru at the front gate. She locked her door and hurried over to her teammate.

"Took you long enough." Kiba said with a smirk.

"You always say that." Hinata said. "So umm what's up?"

"We got a mission. We got to go see the Hokage."

"Ok."

They began their walk towards the Hokage mansion. For a few moments, there was silence. Finally, Kiba said something.

"How have you been, Hinata? I haven't seen you around lately."

"Oh umm I've been ok. I've just been in my house a lot." She really wanted to get the attention off her. "How about you, Kiba?"

"I've just been training a lot. Me and Akamaru have gotten a lot stronger, right?" He was answered with a bark from the huge white dog walking beside him. "It's just been me and Akamaru since I haven't seen you or Shino around."

"Oh yeah. Shino is still on that long mission with Neji-nii-san and Choji. They've been gone for about a year now."

"Yeah. Hey Hinata, let's pick up the pace. We don't want to keep the others waiting." He started running down the street and Hinata followed suit.

"Others? Who else is coming?" she wondered.

"Oh Shikamaru is coming. Plus someone we haven't been on a mission with in a while."

Hinata grew nervous at that news. Someone she hasn't been on a mission with in a while. Of course there were plenty of ninja that fit that description, but she wondered if it was who she thought it was. "Umm who is it?"

"Naruto!" Kiba said with excitement. "It'll be nice to catch up and see how strong he really is."

Instantly, her heart began beating fast. Those common first emotions already began to overcome her. Love, admiration, happiness. Why now? A mission with Naruto. She took a deep breath as she thought about seeing him again.

'_This is my chance. I will be strong. I won't faint or stutter or act weak around him. I have to be strong...I just have to.'_

-:-

"Rasengan!"

The spiraling orb of blue chakra was pushed forward right into Naruto's hands. He clenched his teeth as the sphere spun as high speeds, cutting up his hand. Finally, he couldn't take anymore. The orb exploded sending naruto flying in the opposite direction. He slid on the ground before crashing into a tree, nearly knocking it off its roots. He struggled while getting to his feet. He quickly glanced over at the clone who just attacked him with his own technique. His clone grinned before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

'_This is harder than I thought.'_ he thought to himself. He thought back to the conversation he had with Kakashi a little while ago. He remembered his sensei's words when he begged for training advice.

"_If it will get you off my back, here's something you should think about. You already have a strong offense, so now you should work on defense. If you have a good defense, then you should be able to withstand a good offense."_

It took a while before he understood it but he got it eventually.

'_One of my strongest offensive moves is the rasengan, so if I become strong enough to counter my rasengan, then I'll be able to counter anything!'_ He took a deep breath. He had to continue his training. '_One more time!'_

With his middle and index fingers together, he crossed one hand with the other and called out his signature jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two clones appeared through the smoke. They took a few steps back and began forming the rasengan. The real Naruto held his hands out ready to take the attack.

"Bring it on."

The clones dashed toward the original with the devastating orb in hand. As they got closer they finally pushed the blue ball forward. "Rasen..."

"Naruto!"

The echo of his name through the forest startled him. The two clones tripped, sending the rasengan downward onto the ground. The orb created another explosion blowing away chunks of earth. The two clones were destroyed and Naruto was sent flying back again. When he opened his eyes and looked up, he saw a leaf shinobi standing on a tree branch.

"Man, you're being troublesome already."

"Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled. He jumped to his feet and looked up at him. "What the hell? You're interrupting my training."

'_Why couldn't I go get Hinata?'_ Shikamaru thought. "Sorry about that but we have a mission to take care of."

"Oh a mission." Naruto said, sounding a little excited.

"Yeah so c'mon, we have to get going." he turned around and began jumping from tree to tree.

"Hey wait up!" Naruto jumped onto a tree branch and followed his friend. "So who else is coming?"

"I really don't feel like answering all your questions." he responded. "Just wait until we reach the Hokage mansion and then you'll know everything."

"Fine," he said pouting a bit. The pout slowly turned into a wide grin as they got closer to the Hokage. '_All right!' _Naruto thought. '_After being gone so long, its time to remind the village of what I can do!'_

A/N: 1st chapter...yay! It's short and sweet. Read & Review please.


	2. On Their Way

Chapter 2:

On Their Way

Shikamaru and Naruto made their way through the busy streets of the leaf village. It was hard getting past everyone. You couldn't walk two seconds without bumping into someone. Naruto wanted to just jump from building to building. That would be a lot faster than walking through the streets in the middle of the day. Too bad Shikamaru just replied, "It would be troublesome jumping on buildings and drawing attention to ourselves. It's easier to walk."

'_Yeah it's easier...but it's slower too!'_ Naruto thought.

They spend a good five minutes getting to the Hokage mansion. After minutes of walking, they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. As Shikamaru began slowly walking up the stairs, Naruto stared at him angrily.

"Could you move any slower!?" He yelled.

"I'm moving to conserve energy. Maybe if you weren't yelling, you'd conserve some too." he responded cooly.

After staring for a while, Naruto could do nothing but smile. "After almost three years, you're exactly the same."

"I will take that as a compliment." Shikamaru said as he continued his walk up the stairs. "Actually, I think you're exactly the..."

Shikamaru's sentence was interrupted by a strong pain on his forehead. His vision began to turn a little blurry. It came without warning. He quickly grabbed his head but as fast as it had came, the pain was gone. '_What was that?'_ he thought. He wondered until he heard a voice behind him.

"Ah Shikamaru, your slow walking is giving me a headache." Naruto said.

Shikamaru looked back and saw Naruto also holding his forehead. "Well then let's speed up." He said as he ran up the stairs. Naruto quickly followed behind him. '_Naruto got that headache too. That wasn't normal.'_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Where the hell are they? They should be here by now!"

Kiba and Hinata stood outside the Hokage's office. Waiting...waiting...waiting...

"We try to do them a favor by rushing here but they're taking their sweet time." Kiba said annoyed.

"Maybe Shikamaru couldn't find Naruto-kun." Hinata suggested.

"Yeah maybe." Kiba said. "Or maybe they just like making us wait."

Hinata laughed a little. '_Well that's Kiba for you.'_

Finally, they both turned to the stairs as they saw Shikamaru reach the top.

"What took you so long?" Kiba asked, almost yelling it at him.

"I knew you'd be like this, Kiba," he said as he continued his slow walk towards them. However, Hinata didn't care about the tardiness right now. She only cared about the spiky blonde hair that would soon enter the building. Sure enough, Naruto walked inside and quickly turned toward his fellow shinobi.

"Oh Kiba...and Hinata. Are you guys going on a mission?"

Hinata tried her best to form the words. "Umm yeah we..."

"Actually," Kiba interrupted, "we're going on this mission and we were waiting for you guys!"

"Oh." Naruto said as he ran towards them. Instead of continuing his usual argument with Kiba, he turned and looked at the shy girl standing next to him. "Hinata, how are you feeling? You must have been tired or something because the last time you just fell out."

"O-Oh." Hinata found it hard just talking to him. It was difficult thinking of words to say and blocking out all those embarrassing memories. "I'm fine now. H-How are you, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm great!" he responded joyfully. "I can't wait for the mission."

"Then why don't we go inside." Shikamaru said as he knocked on the Hokage's door.

"Enter." came a voice from inside.

Shikamaru opened the door and entered. Next, Kiba walked inside. Akamaru stayed put in the hallway. Small room, big dog. He just sat and waited for Kiba's return. Ever since Naruto walked up those stairs, Hinata couldn't take her eyes off him. Though she couldn't help it, she was staring at him the whole time. Naruto turned to Hinata, gave her his goofy wide grin, and finally entered the room. A bright blush quickly spread across her face.

'_I hope he didn't notice that.'_ she thought as she entered the room.

As she stepped through the door, Hinata noticed everyone standing in a straight line so she quickly followed suit. They all stood in front of the fifth Hokage's desk. Tsunade looked from left to right, glancing over each of their young faces.

"I see it took a while for you all to show up." she said. There were a few glances over to Shikamaru...but he couldn't care less. "I've called you four here to take care of an important mission."

"All right!" Naruto blurted out. "Finally, an important mission. Don't hold back, grandma Tsunade."

Tsunade grinned at Naruto. "Actually, I think you will get the most out of this mission, Naruto."

"Yeah bring it on!" Naruto yelled as excited as ever.

Even while standing in front of the Hokage and receiving an important mission, Naruto was still swirling around in Hinata's mind. She giggled at Naruto's outbursts. '_He hasn't changed. He's still the same as he was over two years ago.'_

"Ok, enough of that." Tsunade said, interrupting Naruto's outbursts and Hinata's thoughts. "Your mission is to head for the sand village. The Kazekage has requested I send powerful ninja right away."

'_Gaara.' _Naruto thought. He still remembered his previous mission to the sand village and everything the Akatsuki had done. _'I wonder what has him asking for help like this?'_

"So what's the situation?" Kiba asked.

"That I do not know." All four shinobi gave the Hokage a confused look. "He did not give any details about the situation, though he has made it clear that he needs powerful shinobi. Considering our great relationship with the sand, I saw no need to question him." She turned and locked eyes with the most experienced chunin. "You are the leader of this team. Are you up to it?"

"Yes." Shikamaru responded.

Tsunade's mouth turned into a small smirk. "Yes, it's just like last time." she murmured under her breath.

"What?" he questioned.

"Oh nothing," she said with a smile, "go complete your mission."

Even though she actually was paying attention, Hinata had to ask, "But exactly what are we supposed to do?"

"Just go to the sand village and report to the kazekage. He should give you more details. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes." Each ninja replied.

"All right. Oh yeah and there's one other thing." She waited until she had all of their full attention. "From the entrance to the village a few miles west is a road. Are any of you familiar with it?"

"Yeah," Kiba blurted out. "Me and Akamaru train around there all the time."

"Good, well I received word that there are some strange visitors hanging around there. I want you all to check it out."

"But umm," Hinata found it weird having to question the Hokage, "it may take longer to get to the sand village if we take that detour."

"Yeah," Naruto added. "Wouldn't it be easier if you sent some other..."

"No no you guys can handle it," the Hokage reassured. "Just check it out and continue with your mission. Understood?" There were a few okays and head nods. "All right then, you are all dismissed."

The four ninja all turned and walked out the room in a straight line. As the last one to leave, Naruto stopped as he noticed something. "Hey grandma Tsunade." he called back into the room.

The whole grandma thing was starting to get on her nerves and it showed on her face. "What is it?"

"Where's Shizune? Why isn't she here?" he asked.

"Oh umm I think she's at the hospital. I wouldn't disturb her." she said.

"Oh ok." Naruto replied as he exited the room.

He ran to catch up with the others and together they left the mansion. They made it through the hall and started down the stairs in silence. The four made it down the stairs and continued toward the village exit.

Now that the important briefing was over, Hinata had nothing stopping her from continuing her previous actions. '_I haven't had a mission with Naruto-kun in so long. I hope I don't mess anything up. If anything, I need to use this opportunity to show him what I can do. I won't mess this up.'_

They walked for a while until they finally reached the village exit. After walking in silence for so long, someone had to say something.

"Hey guys." A voice called from behind them. They turned and saw the pink haired kunoichi running up to them.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out. Sakura smiled an approached her friends.

"Hey, are you guys going on a mission?" she asked.

"Yeah. We're going to check on some things in the sand village." Shikamaru explained.

"You can come along if you want, Sakura-chan!" Naruto gladly said.

She gave him an evil look. "I think I'll pass," she said sternly. "Well good luck guys I'll see ya later." And with that, she began her walk towards the center of the village.

"If you're done making googly eyes can we go now?" Kiba said to Naruto.

He turned and stared at the dog lover. "Sure we can go. I just hope you can keep up."

"What did you say?" Kiba asked angrily.

"You heard me!"

"All right all right enough fighting." Shikamaru butted in. "It's a wonder how Sakura and Hinata can put up with you two as teammates."

Hinata giggled. "It's not so bad I guess."

With the arguing done, they all made it through the huge gates guarding the village. Naruto continued down the roads before he was stopped by Shikamaru. "Don't you remember what the hokage said? We have to check out that road before we go."

"Oh right." he replied, a little embarrassed. Hinata couldn't help but giggle at the action.

"So where is this road?" she asked. "Don't you know, Kiba?"

"Yeah." he said proudly. "All right follow me."

Kiba and Akamaru took charge and started leading the pack. Naruto reluctantly followed. The gang broke away from the leaf village exit and headed into the woods. With Kiba and Akamaru in front, there's no way they would get lost. Jumping from tree to tree, they followed in a straight line. Finally, they reached a dirt path. Kiba signaled everyone to stop.

"This is it." he said. "Now what?"

Shikamaru took a look down the road. There was nothing he could see. "We follow the road and look for anything suspicious. If we don't find anything then we continue towards the sand village." Everyone nodded and the group started down the road.

Five minutes of walking past and nothing suspicious was found. Hinata couldn't keep her mind on the mission since it was just so boring. Out the corner of her eye she could see Naruto next to her. She could see the disappointed look on his face. '_He's probably hoping something exciting happens.' _She smiled. '_He really is the same Naruto-kun.'_

Naruto's face lit up when he saw something way up the road. "I see something! Let's go check it out." He ran past the others and headed toward it.

"Hey wait up." Kiba wasn't far behind him. He and Akamaru ran to catch up with the excited boy.

Naruto stopped in front of a small booth. He looked down at the sign written on it. "Konoha Fortuneteller?" he read. He looked up and saw an old man sitting behind the booth. "You're a fortuneteller?"

"Yes dear boy," the old man said. "Would you like your fortune told?"

Kiba arrived and stood next to Naruto. He turned to the booth and looked at it top to bottom. Hinata and Shikamaru had to run to catch up with the others.

"Why do you two have to act so troublesome?" Shikamaru asked.

"Welcome to my fortunetelling booth." The old man smiled and looked at each of the ninja before him. "Would any of you like your fortune told?"

"Well," Naruto started, considering the offer.

"Naruto! It's a bunch of crap. No one can actually see the future." Kiba said.

"Now that is where you are wrong my dear boy," the old man said. "I can see the future and with the right amount of money, I can show you all what you want to know."

"All right enough of this." Shikamaru said annoyed. He walked over to the man and got right down to business. "You aren't from Konoha are you? Why are you here? There is clearly no one else on this road and I doubt there will be."

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I've been given a duty. I must use this gift that the gods have given me. I will wait patiently for anyone to show up and seek my advice." He reopened his eyes and stared at Shikamaru. "Now, can I help you?"

"Umm maybe we should give it a try." Hinata suggested.

"No forget it!" Kiba yelled. "This only works if you normally believe in this kind of stuff."

"Yeah he's right." Naruto agreed.

"C'mon Shikamaru, this is just a waste of time." Kiba said.

Shikamaru took a deep breath and looked at the old man. "Sorry sir but we have a mission to take care of. We must be on our way."

"Ok," the man said happily. "Have a nice day."

Shikamaru turned back to his team and started walking down the road. "Let's go, we've lost too much time already."

Kiba and Hinata quickly followed Shikamaru and continued down the road. Naruto took one last look at the man. The man smiled and reached down behind the booth.

"Please, take my brochure." He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it out. Naruto walked over and grabbed the paper. He gave the man one last look before running after the others.

He ran up the road and caught up with them. He was almost out of breath. Kiba turned and sighed. "What took you so long?"

Naruto held up the brochure. "I got this brochure from that old man."

"I told you fortunetelling is a bunch of crap." Kiba responded. "Let me see that!" He reached over and grabbed the brochure from Naruto. It was a thick piece of paper folded in half and taped together. "The outside is blank."

"Open it up." Hinata suggested.

Kiba ripped the tape and opened it up. The paper was blank but inside it was another smaller folded piece of paper. There was some writing on it. He took it out and looked on the outside of it. He could barely make out the words: To Nara Shikamaru.

"What the hell?" Kiba wondered.

Hinata could see the confusion on his face. "What is it, Kiba?"

"Shikamaru, come take a look at this."

Shikamaru stopped walking and grabbed the paper from Kiba. He could see his name on the folded paper. He looked up over at Naruto. "Are you sure that old man gave this to you?" Naruto nodded. Shikamaru opened up the paper and glanced over the inside. Everyone crowded around him with curious eyes.

"What is it?" Hinata asked.

Kiba could see lots of words on the paper. "A note?"

"Maybe." Shikamaru replied. Puzzled looks spread across each of their faces. Shikamaru cleared his throat and began to read:

**Hello, it's time for us to begin**

**too bad this isn't a game you can win**

**lets see how long you guys can play my game**

**either way your fate is all the same**

**if you don't believe me, let me give you all something to fear**

**now everything that can cut, will disappear!**

**1:00**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kiba asked.

"Did that old man give this to us by mistake?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru reread the note over and over in his head. "Everything that can cut will disappear," he repeated. '_What's that number at the end? A time? Wait...'_ Shikamaru continued his thinking while the others stood around confused.

"What kind of note is this? Is it a riddle or something?" Kiba wondered. "I bet that old man is up to all this."

"But how did he know who Shikamaru was?" Hinata asked.

"Ahh this is confusing!" Naruto yelled. "Shikamaru, you think of anything yet?"

The clever chunin was still staring at the note. He tried to consider everything and come up with the best solution. '_That number, is it a time? It's past one o'clock already. Wait...time...a time limit! That would mean...one minute. One minute...until...' _Shikamaru quickly rose his head and turned toward the young kunoichi. "Hinata! Use your byakugan and search for anything strange. Hurry!"

His voice startled her. "Umm o-ok." She rose her hands and performed her seal. "Byakugan!" Veins emerged from the sides of her eyes and she began searching. With the byakugan's nearly 360 degree of vision, it would be hard for anything to escape her sight. "I...I don't see anything. Just trees and...wait...look out! Above!"

Everyone quickly turned their attention upward...but it was too late. A small black ball fell from a tree right above their heads. Instantly, it exploded sending dark smoke in all directions. The darkness consumed the four shinobi and everything else around them. Nothing could be seen.


	3. At His Mercy

A/N: Yay chapter 3. I like this chapter. It was fun to write. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to leave a review.

Chapter 3:

At His Mercy

The dark smoke spread far down the road. It swept through the trees and into the forest. No normal smoke bomb could create this much smoke or cause it to spread this far. But was it a smoke bomb at all?

Kiba clenched his teeth as he struggled to stand on his own two feet. In every direction he saw darkness. It was hard to breathe in the heavy smoke. Too bad that wasn't the only problem. His legs wobbled as they tried to support the enormous weight. Kiba used all his strength to stand upright but his body was being pushed toward the ground with force he couldn't explain nor resist.

'_I...can't...stand.'_ Kiba dropped to one knee as the power continued pushing his body downward. '_It's like...the gravity just...intensified!'_ It took a lot of strength to hold his head up. He looked all around him but couldn't see a thing. '_What...is this?'_

Shikamaru wasn't doing so well either. He fell to his knees as the gravity forced him closer to the earth. He opened his mouth and tried to let out a yell. He couldn't even hear himself through the darkness. '_What kind of smoke is this?'_ The force pushed him to his hands and knees. He used all his strength to keep his body from hitting the ground.

'_I...can't...take this.'_ Hinata fell to her hands and knees. The intense gravity continued to push on her back. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. The pain was definitely getting to her. '_I have...to get...out...' _The force was too much for her limbs to take. Her whole body fell to the ground. With the power pushing on her, hitting the ground like that hurt her more than she could imagine. She opened her mouth and screamed from the pain but still nothing could be heard.

'_C'mon...c'mon...move!'_ Naruto slowly lifted his leg off the ground. The force was still as strong as ever but Naruto was determined. He moved his foot and took one step forward. '_Now for...the other one!' _He lifted his other leg just like he did the first. '_I can't...keep this up.'_ He moved his leg in front of him and prepared to take another step. Suddenly, his strength disappeared as his leg couldn't hold up against the gravity anymore. His foot slammed into the ground hard and fast. Pain shot up his body as the force nearly cracked a bone in his ankle. He let out an agonizing yell and fell to his knees before completely falling to the ground. He clenched his teeth as the pain from the fall hit him.

"I...can't make...it..." he said aloud. However, in the smoke not even the loudest yell could be heard. He tried his best to move any part of his body. The force was too strong and he was almost completely immobile. It took a lot of strength to just move his head. Naruto endured the pain, slowly moving his head to the side. '_What?'_ His head knocked against something. Again he used his strength to move. The side of his head slammed against the ground and all of Naruto's strength was drained. He opened his eyes and was able to look forward. It was difficult to see through the special smoke but he could barely see something. Finally, he was able to notice some hair on the ground beside him. '_Hair? A head?'_ He concentrated on his sight to get a better look. Soon he was able to make out a forehead, eyes, a nose, and a mouth. He was shocked to recognize the feminine unconscious face next to him. '_Hinata!'_

'_I have...to get out of here!'_ Kiba searched deep within himself for as much strength as he could get. He closed his eyes as he struggled to stand back on his feet. Finally, he was standing up again. However, the intense gravity was still pushing him back toward the ground. '_I don't know...how long...I can last.'_ Suddenly, Kiba felt a tug on the back of his jacket. He flew backwards as the tug was too strong. As he fell, he saw the darkness being conquered by the light.

Kiba flew out of the smoke and landed on the ground. He looked up to see the sky. "Light." He slowly sat up and saw the smoke a few feet in front of him. "How did I get out?" He was answered with a loud bark behind him. He gladly turned around and hugged his partner. "Thanks Akamaru." He turned back and concentrated on the problem.

"The others are probably still trapped in that gravity smoke. What can I do?" Kiba thought about all his jutsu and how he could help. Nothing came to mind. Then, much to his surprise, he saw a hand shoot out of the smoke. Kiba struggled to stand back up. After being in that smoke for so long he was exhausted. He ran over to the hand and grabbed on. He pulled with all his might and Shikamaru was yanked out of the smoke. He landed next to Kiba and they both laid on the ground breathing heavily.

"Kiba," Shikamaru said looking over at him. "Thanks."

"No problem, but Naruto and Hinata are probably still in there." Kiba propped himself up on his elbows and Shikamaru was able to sit up. They both looked at the smoke and still couldn't see anything through the darkness.

"Hinata! Wake up! Hinata! Hinata!" Though she was only about an inch away, Naruto's voice still couldn't reach her ears. "Get up, Hinata!" Naruto tried to move but the gravity was still pinning down his entire body. He took another look at Hinata's face. She was unconscious, the force still pinning her body on the earth. Naruto clenched his teeth. "We're going to get out of here," he said, knowing that she couldn't hear him at all. "I'm gonna get us out of here. I promise!"

Naruto started clenching his teeth harder and harder. Some of them grew longer and sharper, forming fangs. The whisker marks on his face grew wider. His eyes turning red and chakra pouring out of him. He slowly moved his arms and legs. He pushed against the gravity and was able to get on his knees. "This stuff...isn't gonna stop me!" The kyuubi chakra continued to power his body. As soon as he got the strength, he jumped to his feet and dashed toward Hinata. He grabbed her and continued to run in one direction. It was difficult. The force was still pushing him to the ground and carrying another person wasn't easy. He pushed through all the pain.

"All right, you and Akamaru can use your gatsuga and fly through the smoke. Hopefully, it will help blow it all away." Shikamaru looked up at Kiba. "It's risky, but it's our only shot."

"We can do it." Kiba said while getting back on his feet. "You ready, Akamaru?" The dog barked and stood closer to Kiba. "Ok, let's do it!" He clapped his hands together, ready to perform the handsigns.

Suddenly, they noticed the smoke begin to glow red. A moment later, Naruto burst through the smoke with Hinata still in hand. He held Hinata close and they both fell to the ground. Chunks of earth were blown aside as Naruto dragged along the ground before coming to a complete stop. The kyuubi chakra disappeared and Naruto laid on the ground with Hinata, motionless.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru and Kiba rushed over surrounding them. Naruto slowly turned his head to the others. "Naruto, are you ok?"

Naruto slowly moved his lips to respond. "I...I got her." His eyes shut and his head fell to the ground.

Shikamaru took a deep breath and looked over to Kiba. "Let's make sure these two get some rest." Kiba smiled and nodded.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Hinata slowly opened her eyes. All she remembered was the darkness pushing her down, then she blacked out. She noticed she was on a blanket. '_Where am I?"_ She looked to her left to figure out her location. She found herself staring into two deep blue eyes.

"Hey Hinata."

She jumped up and nearly fell right back over. "N-Naruto-kun!" she said surprised.

"You guys are finally awake." Shikamaru was sitting not too far away from them.

Kiba jumped from a tree and landed next to them. "How are you guys feeling?"

"I'm ok." Hinata said. "Umm how about you, Naruto-kun?"

"I'm fine." he said. He jumped onto his feet. "It was tough making it out of that stuff."

"Yeah, you should be grateful, Hinata." Shikamaru said. She turned her attention over to him in confusion. "Naruto was the one that saved you from that gravity smoke."

"Oh." She looked over at Naruto who was putting on his headband. "N-Naruto-kun." He looked up and over to her. "Umm thanks. Thanks for saving me."

"No problem." He said with a smile.

Hinata gave him a smile back, but that happy smile wasn't what she was truly feeling. '_I messed up. I passed out and Naruto-kun had to save me. I'm still...not strong enough.'_

Hinata shook away those thoughts. She had to keep her mind on the mission. She rose to her feet and everyone else walked over to her. After a few moments to collect themselves, the group was recharged and ready to go.

"All right, you guys have been out for almost two hours. It will be getting dark soon. We have to keep moving." Shikamaru commanded.

"We won't get anywhere if there's some guy holding us back with crazy riddles." Kiba complained.

"Oh c'mon, maybe that was just a one time thing." Naruto suggested.

Kiba turned and stared at him. "Yeah right," was his sarcastic response.

"Ok it won't hurt to be cautious." Shikamaru looked over at the Hyuga kunoichi. "Hinata."

"Right." She put her hands together and called out her jutsu. "Byakugan!" Using her special eyes, she searched for anything that could hold them back. Almost instantly, she found something high in the sky. "Over there!" She ran to the middle of the road they were traveling on. High above them something unusual was floating around. The others joined her and was able to spot it.

"What is that?" Naruto wondered.

"It looks like a large balloon." Shikamaru said.

"Yes," Hinata answered. "Also it looks like there's a little girl attached to it."

"What?" the three boys all asked.

"I think she's unconscious but she's definitely tied to that balloon."

Shikamaru sighed. "We have to shoot it down and rescue the girl."

"I'll do it." Naruto volunteered. He reached down into his shuriken holster to pull out his weapon. He felt around in the pack but couldn't find anything. "What the..." He got his other hand and began feeling all his pockets and holders. No shuriken or kunai could be found.

"What are you doing?" Kiba yelled. "Fine I'll do it." He reached down in his shuriken holder but ran into a similar problem. "No way." He reached into all his pockets but couldn't find a single weapon.

Hinata noticed the boys' frantic search. She reached into her holder to find it empty as well. "All my weapons are gone!"

Shikamaru grabbed his holder and felt that it was empty too. It made no sense. Shikamaru was puzzled for a second until it finally dawned on him. "The riddle!" Everyone else turned at him because of his outburst. "That riddle! It said 'everything that can cut, will disappear!' At some point in that gravity smoke, all our kunai and shuriken were stolen." The other three looked at each other in shock.

"Damn that riddle!" Kiba said.

Hinata looked up and still saw the girl floating with the balloon. "We still have to save that girl."

"I got her." Naruto said as he ran toward the nearest tree. With chakra at the bottom of his feet, he ran up the side and jumped from branch to branch. After jumping around the tall tree he finally made it to the top. He looked up at the girl still flying high on that big balloon.

"She's still pretty high up," he said to himself. An idea appeared in his head so he gave it a try. He crossed his fingers to perform his jutsu. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" A clone appeared in a puff of smoke next to him. Both Naruto's jumped as high as they could, hoping to reach the girl. They were pretty high up but not high enough. The clone cupped his hands together to allow the real Naruto to get a bit higher.

"Go!" he yelled. Naruto stepped onto his double's hands and got an extra jump. He flew high enough to reach the girl. She was connected to the balloon by four wires coming from her back. Naruto grabbed her and his extra weight pulled the balloon down. As soon as they reached the top of a tree, the balloon popped and they plummeted toward the earth. They fell and crashed into the ground but Naruto was able to protect her.

The others ran to find where Naruto had landed. They found him on the ground still holding the girl.

"Are you ok?" Shikamaru asked. "How's the girl?"

Naruto looked down at the girl confused. Her eyes were still closed and she was not moving. Hinata noticed the look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"She doesn't...feel right." he responded.

"Let me see her." Hinata said. Naruto handed over the girl and Hinata looked her over. Upon further inspection, Hinata was able to discover the problem. "It's a transformation jutsu!" she stated. A few eyes darted over to Hinata and then they all looked at the sleeping little girl. The girl was suddenly surrounded by a puff of smoke. When the smoke blew away, it revealed a small puppet. A folded note was taped to its head.

"It was a trick!" Kiba yelled angrily.

Shikamaru took a deep breath and walked over to Hinata. "I have a feeling I know what this is." He reached down and grabbed the note. As he unfolded it, everyone waited for him to read.

**I hope you didn't think I was joking before**

**now you know I'm serious, and I'm ready to do more**

**I hope you enjoy playing my little game**

**for this torture, you guys are the ones to blame**

**see ya later, oh and just to let you know**

**you guys should save that kunoichi before the doll can blow**

**0:30**

"W-What?" Hinata asked, wondering about that last line.

'_Before the doll could blow.'_ Shikamaru thought. He then took another look at the number on the page. '_Thirty...Thirty seconds!'_ He quickly looked over at Hinata who was still holding the puppet. "Look out!" He rushed over, snatched the puppet from Hinata, and threw it as hard as he could. As soon as he let go of the puppet, in mid air, it exploded sending chunks of wood and hot air in all directions. It was a second or two away from blowing Shikamaru or Hinata's hands off.

The explosion startled Hinata and she fell backwards onto the ground. Naruto and Kiba were shocked at what happened and how fast it happened. Shikamaru sighed and turned toward Hinata. "You ok?"

Hinata's fast heartbeat began to settle as she sat there on the ground. "I-I'm ok." She got back on her feet although she was still a little startled.

Kiba growled and looked around from tree to tree. "Man I wish this bastard would show himself!"

Naruto was thinking the same as Kiba. "We need to search for this guy and take him out!"

Shikamaru looked around as well, although he was sure that their opponent was too smart to show himself now. "Either this guy is really lucky or he has some strange powers," he stated.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"The riddle." Shikamaru said holding up the paper. It said, 'you guys should save that kunoichi before the doll can blow.'"

"So." Kiba said.

"Well," Shikamaru started. "This note was already attached to the puppet when we saw it floating on the balloon. If that's the case, then how did he know that Hinata would be the one holding the puppet when I read it?"

"That's true." Hinata said.

Shikamaru looked at the others. "That proves a few things. It shows that our opponent must have some sort of special ability or equipment." He took a deep breath. "It also proves that our enemy knows what we are doing, so he is probably watching us right now."

Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata looked up at all the trees and bushes around them. Nothing suspicious could be seen. Hinata looked at Shikamaru. "What should we do?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Our opponent is skilled at hiding and setting up traps. We have no choice. Capturing him will be difficult and maybe even impossible right now. We must be on our guard and continue our mission by heading toward the sand village." Everyone nodded. Shikamaru turned and thought about the long road ahead of them. "Well let's head out. Kiba, I need you and Akamaru in front so you can sniff out any traps we may encounter."

"Got it." Kiba said.

Kiba and Akamaru jumped onto the nearest tree and headed out of the fire country. He was followed by Shikamaru, Hinata, and then Naruto. They continued their mission and headed toward the sand village. They all made sure they kept their guard up. It's hard to travel through the forest when you have enemies lurking in the shadows, gunning for your life.


	4. Face The Fear

Chapter 4:

Face The Fear

The group of four continued to jump from tree branch to tree branch. They have been moving for about an hour already. Kiba and Akamaru led the others through the forest as they headed toward the sand village for their meeting with the kazekage. They all had plenty of thoughts on their mind...and with the way their day has been going, that's totally understandable.

'_Man I can't take this!'_ Naruto was in the back of the formation. He looked on at his teammates pushed forward. The thought of their stalker was still in his mind. '_I wish that bastard would just show himself. I'm tired of those damn riddles!' _

Even though they seem really different, sometimes it's like Kiba and Naruto have the same mind and think the same thoughts. Kiba wasn't too fond of their enemy either. _'Damn it! I can't even smell this guy anywhere. If he really is watching us, then how can it be so hard for us to find him?'_ Those thoughts stayed in the back of his head. Right now, he had to worry about sensing traps and leading the others safely.

Shikamaru was second in the formation. As the leader, it was up to him to command the others and give out important orders. They weren't even half way to the sand village yet and the mission has already gotten far more troublesome than he had liked. '_Our situation can't get much worse. Our opponent probably knows who we are and where we're going. If he's watching us then there isn't much we can do about it.'_ Shikamaru briefly looked up at the sky. The night time stars were the only things providing light. '_It's late and soon things may be too dark to see. Man this is a pain.'_

The third person in the formation was Hinata. The previous events really affected her. Her nice, anticipated mission with Naruto has quickly turned into a dangerous high tension situation. '_That guy is probably still watching us. This is bad. I can't keep relying on Naruto-kun rescuing me. I have to fight for myself.'_

After about an hour and a half of traveling, the leader finally put things to a stop. Shikamaru held his hand out and called out to everyone. "Hey, everyone stop." Kiba heard the call and stopped on the nearest branch. The others stopped and crowded around Shikamaru.

"Why are we stopping?" Hinata asked.

"We have to stop and rest for a while. We should all get some sleep."

"Sleep?" Naruto said. "We got some strange enemy watching us and you want us to rest?" Needless to say, Naruto wasn't a fan of the plan.

"I agree with the idiot." Kiba said. "This is no time to rest."

"Yeah we should keep moving and...hey wait!" Naruto's brain finally caught up with Kiba's words. "Who you calling an idiot?"

Shikamaru sighed. He had to say something before they all had to listen to another Kiba and Naruto moment. "Look, we're deep in this forest. It's already dark and it will only get darker. We will be a lot safer if we rest now. Traveling blindly through the forest isn't going to help us."

"I think Shikamaru is right." said Hinata, the only other reasonable person there.

"All right." Naruto gave in. "Should we make a fire then?"

"No," Shikamaru said. "We should spend as less time here as possible. I think we should each get about two or three hours of sleep each."

"Okay so who is taking the first shift while the others sleep?" Kiba asked.

"Because of our situation, I think we should take our shift in two's." Shikamaru suggested. "Two people take the first shift, then a few hours later the other two keep watch. After we all get some sleep we should be good to go. So, who wants the first watch?"

"I'll do it!" Both Kiba and Naruto said in unison. They both shot each other an annoyed look.

"Okay I see that's not going to work." Shikamaru said.

Kiba growled quietly while still looking at Naruto. "Fine, you take the first watch. I'll take the second."

"All right then." Naruto said, feeling a bit relieved. Just one hour alone with Kiba definitely wouldn't go well. Now with no partner, Naruto turned his attention to the Hyuga heiress. "Hinata, you wanna keep watch with me?"

The question took her by surprise. It took her a moment to process the question and come up with an answer. "Um y-yeah. I'll keep watch with you."

Shikamaru and Kiba both sat on the ground to get ready for their good night's rest. "Be on your guard." Shikamaru said before laying on his blanket. Blankets were one of the few things they had left after their weapons were stolen. Kiba laid down too and waited for the sleepiness to come.

Hinata took a deep breath and sat on the ground. This is something she didn't expect to happen. '_I have around three hours alone with Naruto-kun. I don't know what to do.'_

She was already nervous with the idea of being with Naruto for a few hours. Her heart started beating even harder when she noticed Naruto slowly making his way over to her. He walked over and sat on the ground right next to her. Hinata had no idea what to do.

"How are you Hinata?" he asked. "Everything okay?"

Hinata wasn't prepared for this. Her brain immediately began dwelling in the past, thinking of those embarrassing memories. She tried to clear her mind. She needed to focus on the conversation and not on her memories. She tried her best to forget the past and concentrate on the present...concentrate on Naruto.

It wasn't working.

"Hinata? Are you going to say anything?" Naruto gave Hinata a puzzled look. It's like she was staring at nothing at all. "Are you okay?"

Hinata broke from her thoughts and looked at Naruto. "Oh umm I'm fine. Just...nervous that's all." Hinata could kick herself for what she said. '_Why did I tell him I was nervous?'_

"Oh don't worry about it." Naruto said. "We're gonna catch that riddle guy soon. You don't have to worry about that."

"Oh okay." Hinata responded. '_Though that wasn't what I was nervous about.'_

Hinata found it increasingly difficult to talk to Naruto. They were alone, sitting in the dark forest with no one to talk to but each other. This is a perfect chance for her to talk to Naruto. With hundreds of thoughts dashing through her mind, it was hard for her lips to cooperate and speak. For a while neither one said a thing. Naruto was looking up at the sky, thinking of what problems they could run into later. Hinata was looking down and playing with her fingers. That was a pretty annoying nervous habit. Finally, she lifted her head and was able to speak again.

"N-Naruto-kun." He took his attention off the sky and turned toward Hinata. Part of her liked looking into his lovely eyes, the other part was freaking out, almost making it difficult to talk. "I just wanted to say that...um it's good to see you again...after so long."

Naruto just stared at her for a moment. It was a pretty random thing to say. He took a second to come up with a reply. He wasn't really used to expressing his feelings. "Yeah thanks. It's good to see you again too. I missed all my friends while I was gone."

'_But not me in particular.'_ Hinata thought. She knew he was thinking the same thing. She knew who he really missed. "You probably missed your teammates the most. I bet you were dying to see Kakashi-sensei...and Sakura."

"Yeah." He leaned back and spread his legs out. He held himself up with his hands. The dark nighttime sky once again caught his eye's attention. "Kakashi-sensei hasn't change much over the years. Sakura...she changed quite a bit." Hinata started to feel worse and worse as she listened to Naruto. She knew where this conversation was heading. Naruto continued, "She's gotten a lot stronger since I last seen her. Her attitude hasn't changed much, but she still is a great kunoichi."

Hinata was slowly regretting accepting Naruto's wish to keep watch. Why couldn't she had asked to keep watch with Shikamaru or Kiba? The thought of talking to Naruto alone started off great but it's now making a u-turn in the other direction. She was hearing too much about a certain someone that was pushing her further down in the dumps.

Hinata never really experienced anger. It was hard for her to be angry at anyone. She couldn't even think badly of the one girl that stood between her and Naruto. Sakura, Naruto's teammate and Tsunade's apprentice. It was obvious that Naruto liked Sakura. Everyone knew it. Everyone also knew that Sakura didn't like him back. It annoyed Hinata to think about the way Sakura treated Naruto, emotionally and physically. Whenever Hinata thought about Sakura, where anger should be, instead there is jealousy. How she would love to be in Sakura's shoes and have Naruto like her. As much as she dreamed of that happening, she still couldn't see it happening in reality.

Once again silence hovered around both ninja. Hinata continued to look down and played with her fingers. She covered her mouth and a yawn escaped from her throat. All her nervousness and thinking must have been making her sleepy. Naruto laid down on his back, He took a deep breath and looked over at Hinata. He finally had something to say. "Um Hinata, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah sure." Her sleepiness was put on hold as she waited for him to speak. She decided to lay down too, a little because of being tired, a lot because of being closer to Naruto.

"Well," Naruto started. This would be the first time he's said something like this. "Out of all my friends, you were actually one of the ones that I wanted to see the most."

The news caused her to look over and back into those nice blue eyes. She tried her best to control her blush. "Um why?"

Naruto looked away and began staring at the sky again. "It's just that out of everyone, you help me out the most. I mean you always encourage me and help me out. You're really nice."

'_He called me nice.'_ It wasn't that big of a deal, but to Hinata, it was a big step in the right direction.

"I guess I'm trying to say that you're a good friend and I like having you around."

Hinata tried to resist the urge to stand up and jump for joy. '_He likes...having me around.'_ She couldn't hide her blush this time. _'This is the first time he's ever said anything like that to me.'_ As much as Hinata was enjoying the conversation, she couldn't continue as her eyes slowly closed and darkness took over.

Naruto turned his head and saw Hinata's head laying on the ground with her eyes closed. A small smile crept across his face. '_I guess she was sleepy. Looks like I'll have to keep watch alone.'_ He sat up and looked around him. There was nothing but trees, plants, and his three teammates sleeping.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Time seemed to be moving slow. Every minute seemed like an hour. Naruto sighed as he continued to sit up and keep watch. So far an hour of boredom had passed. Naruto opened his mouth and let out a loud yawn. Sleepiness was already beginning to try to take over his body. Every time his eyes started to get heavy he would force then wide open again. It was his responsibility to keep watch, he couldn't fall asleep now. As every minute passed, his eyes got closer and closer to shutting closed. He decided to rest his eyes for a second. Just a second. He would open them later but now he thought it was necessary since nothing important was happening anyway.

"My my, should you really fall asleep at a time like this."

Naruto's eyes shot open. He lifted his head and quickly shook it, his eyes scanning from left to right. He could have sworn he heard a voice. Looks like resting his eyes wasn't going to work. He was far too alert to relax now. "Who's there?" It was almost dead silent for a few moments. Naruto began to relax when his call went unanswered.

"You fall asleep during your watch? Ha! Some ninja you are."

He heard that comment loud and clear. Naruto jumped to his feet and began looking all around him. The dark sky and trees made it difficult to see. He tried his best to see through the darkness.

"C'mon, try looking over here."

Naruto tried following the sound of the voice. Finally, he looked and could see a figure leaning against a tree. Naruto angrily stared at the figure, hoping whoever it was could see the anger in his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked in a not-so-pleasant tone.

The figure moved away from the tree and took a few steps forward. Naruto couldn't really make out the person's clothes, it was too dark to tell, but he could see their face pretty well. It was a boy, about Naruto's age. He had long light brown hair put into a ponytail, almost like Shikamaru. Naruto could also notice a pleased smile on the boy's face. "Who am I?" the boy repeated. "I won't answer that question now, but you may know soon enough."

"Don't screw around with me!" Naruto could already tell the boy wasn't someone he could trust. He gripped his fist tight as he continued to stare at him. "Are you the guy that's following us? And giving us those riddles?"

The boy chuckled a little. "Maybe, maybe not. Honestly, I can't make a good rhyme to save my life."

"You're lying aren't you?" Naruto was already angry. He made sure to see through any of that boy's lies.

"Maybe, maybe not." The boy let out a laugh and continued to smile. Naruto was a few seconds away from charging full force at him.

"Fine, if you don't want to answer then I'll have to capture you and make you talk!" Naruto began running right at the boy. His fists were ready to punch someone's lights out. Just when he was only a few steps away, the boy vanished before his eyes. Naruto stopped and began searching around.

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood to fight now." Naruto turned around to see the boy leaning against another tree. "I'm just here to talk."

Naruto looked at the boy closely. He didn't like the look on his face. That smiling 'I'm in control' look. He hated it. "Maybe I should wake my teammates up first. They would want to talk too." Naruto kept his eyes on the boy as he slowly walked toward his sleeping comrades.

"No, this is just between me and you. You can try to wake them, but I'm sure they will be too polite to interrupt our conversation."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the statement. He walked over and started to nudge Kiba's back with his foot. "Hey wake up! We got company." He kept moving him for a few seconds but the dog loving ninja would not awaken. "Hey Kiba!" he yelled. He made his way over to Shikamaru and began kicking him, a little harder than he did Kiba. His team leader didn't even move a muscle. Naruto didn't bother checking on Hinata. He had a feeling he would run into the same problem. Instead, he turned his attention back to the boy. "What did you do to them!" he yelled.

"Nothing, I just wanted us to have a nice conversation. What's wrong with that?"

Naruto was getting more pissed off every time the boy opened his mouth. He really wanted to fight but decided against it, considering how fast the boy moved earlier. "What do you want?"

"Oh you finally want to listen to me. That's good." The boy knew exactly how to mess with Naruto's anger. That superior look never left his face. "Tell me, Uzumaki Naruto, what do you know about dreams?"

Naruto clenched his teeth in anger. "How do you know my name?"

The boy chuckled again. "I know many things. I have tons of information about Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba."

"So you've been stalking all of us."

"No, I have other methods of receiving information. Oh, you never answered my question. What do you know about dreams?"

Naruto really didn't want to answer. He didn't want to play by this mysterious boy's rules. As much as he didn't want to, he still decided to think about the question. "You mean the dreams we have while we sleep?"

"No, not those. I mean a person's dream. The thing they want most. The dream that they wish could become reality."

"Ok, what about them?"

The boy put his hands behind his back and starting walking slowly. His eyes never left Naruto. "Dreams are interesting things. They are what people want the most. The problem is dreams are usually very difficult to fit into someone's life. If everyone in the world began chasing after their dreams, I'd say less than ten percent of them would actually achieve them. Dreams can be both wonderful and cruel."

"What does that have to do with us?" Naruto struggled to keep himself from charging again. He wasn't really enjoying this so called conversation.

"It has everything to do with you. You all have dreams and I have made it my dream to make sure your dreams don't come true. Usually, the best way to take away someone's dream is to take away that person's future entirely. Although, it is interesting to know what dreams I am destroying. That's why my jutsu is especially useful to me."

That threat really put Naruto on his guard. He was prepared if the stranger tried to make a move. In the meantime, he tried to find out as much as he could about the enemy. "What jutsu are you talking about?"

"It's complicated so I'll just tell you the basics. It allows me to see a person's dream. I will be able to see what that person wants most in the entire world."

Naruto's mouth curled into a even angrier frown. "So you use your jutsu to see a person's dream so you'll know what you're taking away from them?" The boy nodded his head. "You're sick!"

The boy laughed. "Maybe, maybe not. But it is an entertaining ability to have. For example," he cleared his throat. "My dream is to become the Hokage, then no one will look down on me and I will be respected by everyone. I will achieve my goal by never going back on my word and protecting all my friends. That is my nindo, my ninja way."

Naruto dashed forward and prepared to attack. He wasn't going to stand around while some guy mocked him and made fun of his dream. Again before he got too close, the boy vanished and reappeared a few yards away.

"I can tell by your anger that that was your dream." Naruto gave the boy an intense glare. The boy seemed unaffected by it. "Oh what about this one. I want a comfortable life. I will continue to work until I'm old, retire, get a nice non-troublesome wife, and get a nice house. It must have a nice roof where I can watch the clouds every day."

That was a pretty boring dream, but Naruto could tell exactly whose it was. He looked around and could see Shikamaru still sleeping in the corner of his eye.

"How about this one." The boy really enjoyed telling others' business. "I'm going to work with my partner everyday until we become the best tag team ever. When I'm powerful enough I'll lead my own ninja hound pack with Akamaru right by my side."

It was clearly obvious who that dream belonged to. Naruto could only listen as the boy told his friends' thoughts one by one. With Kiba done there was only one teammate left. Naruto waited for the boy to finish telling what he knew.

"Those were all nice dreams huh?" the boy said with a smile.

Naruto's tough guy look was still on his face. "What about Hinata?"

"You don't want to know hers." was all the boy said.

"What do you mean?"

The boy laughed again as he stared into Naruto's fierce eyes. "You really are clueless. You really don't know what Hinata's dream is? You don't know what she wants most in this world? You don't know what's constantly on her mind? Maybe you should ask her."

"Don't mess around! If you know then why don't you just tell me?"

"Because it's not for me to tell. Do you remember that fortuneteller you guys passed a while ago?" Naruto clenched his teeth. So this guy was the one behind everything so far. "Well, I predict that you will know what Hinata wants most in this world...and she will tell you as her final words. She will tell you with her final breath...and you will listen as you prepare to take your final breath."

Naruto was truly getting pissed off. "Who do you think you are? You're sadly mistaken if you think you're going to kill us all. You have no idea what Konoha ninja can do!"

"Maybe, maybe not...but I know enough to say that today was your last day to see your village. You've seen you families for the last time. Enjoy your last few moments with your three friends over there."

"So what are you going to do? Why don't you just fight me like a man right now!"

The boy smiled. "You really are clueless huh?" He slowly began walking toward Naruto. He kept his guard up as the mysterious boy was only a few steps away. "You can't fight something that obviously isn't there, and I won't fight anything that obviously can't defend itself."

Naruto lifted his right hand and aimed his fist at the boy's face. It was just like punching air. His fist went right through his head and the boy continued to smile in his face. I took a second for Naruto to realize the situation. "It's a genjutsu."

"Very good, took you long enough. It's almost morning, you should wake up and rejoin your team."

Naruto's face showed confusion at the statement since it was still very dark in every direction. He figured it was the genjutsu and turned his attention back to the boy. "You're a coward."

The boy put his hands together and formed a seal. Everything around the two of them began to collapse. The trees broke apart and fell into nothingness. Naruto looked around and saw nothing but complete darkness and the boy standing in front of him. Knowing it was a genjutsu, Naruto decided to use words and not violence. "When I wake up, I'm going to find you and I'm going to defeat you. I'm not going to die anytime soon. It's a promise! I will make you pay!"

The boy laughed one last time as Naruto felt that he wasn't standing on anything anymore. Naruto began to fall downward. He screamed as his body was covered with darkness. The boy floated in the air and considered Naruto's last words. "He is going to defeat me?" he repeated. He laughed at the thought. "Maybe, maybe not."


	5. Confrontation

Chapter 5:  
Confrontation

"I can't believe he did this!"

"Man, Naruto becomes more troublesome everyday."

"Maybe...maybe this isn't his fault."

"Oh c'mon! This is totally his fault!"

"Well...it was my fault too."

"You two need to be more responsible."

"Yeah...you're right."

"At least you're up now. Now I'm gonna get this lazy ass up."

"Kiba! Don't kick him!"

"I'm just trying to wake him up."

"He's not even moving. Is he okay?"

"I don't know...maybe another kick could tell us."

"Kiba!"

"Why do you two have to be so troublesome?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The nighttime sky had finally passed and the sun began illuminating the dark forest. Light conquered the darkness and the sun's ray heated up the earth as morning slowly crept in. Birds were flying and squirrels were scurrying; all the animals were beginning a new day, unaware of the devious plots and attacks that were already unleashed the previous day. Finally, light found its way to where the Konoha shinobi were resting.

A ray of sunlight slowly moved across the ground before it rested on Naruto's face. The light forced Naruto to open his eyes only to shut them again because of the brightness. He put his hand over his eyes and sat up. A small yawn escaped his mouth as his mind was slowly coming up to speed.

"Glad to see you're awake." Naruto heard the voice and turned to see Shikamaru leaning against a tree. "We were worried for a while. You wouldn't wake up no matter what we did to you."

"Naruto-kun." Hinata rushed over when she saw Naruto rise. Kiba noticed him too but decided to stay sitting in the tree with Akamaru.

"Are you okay?" Kiba asked from up above.

Naruto looked at Hinata and then up at Kiba. "I don't know. I don't remember much. The last thing I remember was talking to Hinata and then keeping watch alone." His eyes glanced back at Hinata. She could feel her cheeks warm at when he looked at her.

"You mean keeping watch after Hinata fell asleep." Shikamaru stated bluntly.

The warmth in her cheeks vanished as an apologetic look overcame her. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Naruto said quickly, not wanting Hinata to take all the blame. "I guess I must have fell asleep too, sorry."

"Yeah yeah, you two just make sure to be more careful. You're lucky we weren't attacked in our sleep." Kiba stated in a serious tone. Naruto just looked down as he thought of the severity of his actions.

"The three of us ate already." Shikamaru said while reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a nutrition bar and tossed it into Naruto's lap. "Eat that and when you're ready, we'll head out."

With the conversation over, Shikamaru went back to silently thinking to himself. Kiba went over a few plans with Akamaru while still in the tree and Hinata went to prepare her things for travel. Naruto sat and ripped the wrapper off the nutrition bar. It wasn't very tasty, but it gave him the energy he needed and kept him from getting hungry. While he sat there, he silently explored his thoughts. Something wasn't right. He tried his hardest, but no matter what, he couldn't remember the dream he had last night. Although he rarely remembered his normal dreams, he felt as if this dream was important, but it was erased from his mind. Whenever he tried to remember what he dreamt of last night, one strange question would keep popping up in his head: What did Hinata want most in the world?

He dismissed his thoughts as he rose to his feet. He cracked his knuckles, did a few stretches, and mentally prepared himself for what had yet to come. "Okay," he said aloud. "Let's head out."

"Finally." Kiba said, jumping from the tree with Akamaru behind him. Hinata walked over to the group and the three turned to their leader. Shikamaru gladly took charge.

"Okay, even though today is a new day, that doesn't mean that out problems have changed. We still need to get to the sand village and help out the Kazekage. Also, most likely our enemy is still out there somewhere, preparing more traps and riddles. We need to be cautious as we proceed. Everyone understand?" The others nodded. Shikamaru turned and looked in the direction of their destination. "Okay, let's move out. Same formation, Kiba and Akamaru first, then me, Hinata, and finally Naruto. Watch each other's back. Let's go!"

Kiba and Akamaru took off, jumping onto the nearest tree branch and heading toward the sand village. The rest of the team followed them in Shikamaru's formation order. Using their fleet ninja speed, they quickly moved through the thick forest in order to reach their destination.

The journey through the trees was mostly silent for the Konoha ninja. They were all too busy concentrating on the road ahead...all except the number one knuckle-headed ninja. He watched as his teammates pushed forward. Eventually, his eyes began concentrating on one particular teammate. Instantly, his mind began to focus on the thing that had been bothering him. The one question that was stuck in his mind ever since he woke up.

What did Hinata want most in the world?

Naruto spent a few minutes thinking about the question, even though all that did was bring up even more questions. What made him think of the question? Why was it so significant to him? Did it have anything to do with his dream that he didn't remember? Naruto shook away the thoughts and once again began focusing on the kunoichi as she traveled. Because of the lingering question and all of the follow-up questions, finally one thing motivated him to get to the bottom of this: curiosity. '_I guess it couldn't hurt to ask,'_ he thought.

Naruto picked up the pace to catch up with Hinata. The Hyuga turned her head and noticed Naruto slowly getting closer and closer to her. '_Naruto-kun! I wonder what he wants.'_ Hinata was still ecstatic because of her talk with Naruto the night before. She smiled with the thought that Naruto actually enjoys talking to her. She watched him as he moved until they were traveling side by side.

"Hey Hinata, I was wondering if I could ask you something." Naruto said in an uncertain tone.

Hinata continued to look at him, her face now showing uncertainty too. "S-Sure you can ask me anything."

"Okay...well...umm," Naruto wondered how he should bring up the question. Finally, he decided (mistakenly) that being blunt would be the best option. "What do you want most in the world?"

"Wha..." Hinata squeaked out when her foot slipped off of the tree branch that she had just jumped to. Naruto could only watch as she slipped downward. '_Pull yourself together'_ she mentally told herself. Regaining her composure, she landed on the nearest tree branch and rapidly moved to catch up with Naruto. As she got closer, she could clearly see the smile on his face. When they were side by side again, the embarrassment on her face was evident.

"I'm sorry for laughing. Are you okay?" Naruto asked while trying to cease the snickering. Hinata nodded her head. "Sorry, I guess that question was too personal. Forget I asked."

"N-No," Hinata said quickly. "I guess it just took me by surprise, that's all." The kunoichi took a deep breath to clear her nerves before speaking again. "What do I want most in the world?"

"Yeah, I know it's kind of a random question but I want to know."

Hinata took some time to think about the question. '_What do I want most in the world?'_ she repeated in her head. Instantly, her mind became focused on the most important person to her. '_I want to become stronger and one day be able to tell Naruto-kun how I feel. My dream is that people will begin to see me as a great ninja instead of a failure...and Naruto-kun would accept my feelings and possible return them.'_

She didn't have to think hard for that to pop up in her head. That thought had always been in her mind; it had been a part of her ninja way for a long time. Though she knew she was making progress, the confess her love to Naruto part was the part she was scared of the most. Confessing to him would change her life, but for better or for worse, that was the question.

Hinata snapped back into reality knowing that Naruto anticipated her answer. She looked into his deep blue eyes as she struggled to find the words. "What I want most in the world is,' she briefly paused, "to become a strong and respected ninja. I don't want to be famous or anything. It would just be nice to be seen as someone who is strong, instead of a failure."

Naruto noticed the gloomy emotion she put into her words. "But you're not a failure." he pointed out.

Naruto's compliment only lowered Hinata's mood even more. "But I always mess up on missions...and I am always the one that needs to be rescued...and I'm..."

"You are not a failure!" The boy repeated even louder, interrupting her. "You only talk about the bad times. I've seen you fight; you're really strong. Plus, now you're a chunin! There's no way someone as awesome as you could be a failure."

Hinata was speechless after hearing Naruto's encouragement. As small blush crept across her face and all she could do was smile. "T-Thanks, Naruto-kun. Maybe you're right."

"I am." he assured her. He reached out his arm and gave her a thumbs up. "You'll never be a failure in my book." He turned to her and made a wide grin. Hinata continued to smile as she looked over at her love. She didn't think it was possible, but after her recent talks with Naruto, her love for him grew even more.

"Everyone halt!"

A startled Hinata quickly looked ahead and stopped on a tree branch that Shikamaru had just stopped on. Naruto looked forward after hearing the call but was a little too late. He crashed into Kiba (who had just stopped) and they both fell towards the ground. Akamaru barked and jumped after them.

"Geez," Shikamaru sighed as he followed. Hinata giggled quietly before jumping after her teammates.

Kiba landed on the ground on all four's while Naruto crashed into the ground back first. "Watch where you're going, idiot!" Kiba yelled. Naruto wanted to respond but he was too busy slowly getting onto his feet with an aching back. Akamaru landed on the ground next to Kiba, followed by Shikamaru and Hinata.

"Why do you always have to be so troublesome?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah I'm okay. My back's not broken or anything, thanks for asking." Naruto sarcastically stated. His eyes darted over to Kiba. "Why did you want us to stop anyway?"

"Will you just shut up and let me work." Kiba said as he began sniffing the ground. With his extra sensitive nose, he sniffed all over the ground for the irregular scent he just found. Akamaru joined in the search and they both began sniffing for the smell. The others simply followed the duo until they stopped in front of a tree. Kiba stood up and looked at the tree. "This is it."

"What about it? It's just a tree." Naruto said rather annoyed.

Kiba sighed and walked around the tree. He grabbed a folded up piece of paper that was attached to the back of it.

"A riddle?" Hinata asked.

"There's only one way to find out." Shikamaru said as he held out his hand. Kiba handed the note over to Shikamaru and he unfolded it. The others crowded around him waiting for the note to be read.

**Good morning, I hope you had a good nights rest,**

**today, I'm putting you mind and body to the test.**

**To find this note, I'm sure the scent guided you,**

**but is this the only thing the scent leads to?**

**If you can survive standing next to that tree,**

**then maybe you should follow the scent to me!**

**1:00**

"Follow the scent to me." Naruto repeated. "So Kiba can follow the scent from this note and we can find this guy!" That part excited Naruto the most.

"But what if it's a trap?" Hinata said concerned.

"That's true, but it's the only lead we have. We have to take it!" Kiba said determined.

While everyone else was concerned about that part of the note, Shikamaru was concerned about another. '_If you can survive standing next to that tree? One minute...'_ He looked up from the note. "Everyone jump into the trees now!" Shikamaru jumped onto a branch away from the tree where Kiba found the note. The others followed and jumped closer towards Shikamaru.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru didn't bother to answer. He was too busy in thought. '_That was too easy. Why would he put a trap on that tree if we could easily avoid it. And also...why give us one minute. That's a generous amount of time. Too generous.'_

Naruto looked away as he noticed he was being ignored. He looked to the side and saw Hinata on the same branch as him. His eyes widened as he noticed something about the girl. He quickly moved towards her and grabbed onto her backpack.

"N-Naru.."

"Take off your backpack. Now! Hurry!" Naruto commanded. He tugged on the straps around her shoulders. Hinata tried to cooperate even though she didn't know what was going on. Finally, they were able to take it off and she handed it to Naruto. He snatched the bag and threw it as hard as he could. Suddenly, the bag burst in a fiery explosion. The force sent Naruto and Hinata flying off of the tree branch. Shikamaru and Kiba covered their faces as the force hit them. Naruto grabbed Hinata and held her as they both crashed into the ground.

Shikamaru and Kiba jumped down to get to Naruto and Hinata. "What just happened?" Kiba asked.

Naruto released Hinata and she rolled off on him onto the ground. Her heart was beating especially fast. It would have been because of Naruto holding her, but it was more from the explosion that was seconds away from taking her life.

"There were...exploding tags...inside Hinata's bag." Naruto said through deep breaths. If he hadn't noticed the tiny sparks shooting from a hole in her bag, neither of them would be there now.

Kiba growled. "So that guy did do something while we were all asleep."

"I see." Shikamaru said. "This guy is getting even more dangerous." As he looked at Naruto and Hinata breathing heavily on the ground, he sighed in disappointment. '_I would have never though of a bomb being there. If I'm the leader I have to be able to think faster. If it wasn't for Naruto...'_

"So what do we do now?" Kiba asked, interrupting Shikamaru's thoughts.

The leaderlooked down andexamined the note that was stillin his hand. "Although we're losing valuable time, it looks like our safest bet is to play by this guys rules. We have to use the scent to track him."

"I agree with Shikamaru." Naruto said as he got back onto his feet. Hinata was also rising to her feet next to him. "We need to find this guy and if he tries to fight," he smashed his fist into his other palm, "we take him out!"

"Can you really track him Kiba?" the shy Hyuga asked.

"The scent might be pretty weak but me and Akamaru should be able to do it." Shikamaru handed the note to Kiba. Kiba sniffed the note and bent down to let Akamaru sniff it too. They began sniffing the ground to find the scent trail.

Naruto breathed in and out to calm down. He was already fed up with their enemy. Hinata leaned back against a tree and tried to calm her nerves. Not only did she almost die, but Naruto had to rescue her...again. '_Can I do anything right?'_ she thought. She looked down at her feet as she let out a deep breath. She was surprised to see a small container next to her foot. '_Is this...'_ She bent down and picked up the container. It had a few burn marks on it but she could still read the label. '_Special Hyuga Medicine.'_ She was grateful that it wasn't destroyed in the blast, however, she sighed as she remembered who gave her the medicine and the words he spoke to her. '_Father...'_

"I found it!" Kiba yelled suddenly. "Lets go!" Kiba jumped off into the trees and Akamaru followed. Shikamaru and Naruto jumped after their friend when they heard his call. Hinata quickly snapped out of her thoughts. She stuffed the medicine in her pocket and jumped after the others.

The group of five (including Akamaru) dashed through the trees at high speeds. Kiba led the group while following the trail of the enemy's scent. '_We're finally going to make you pay.'_ he thought. He called back to the others. "Guys, I think I found the source of the scent. That riddle guy should be a few meters ahead." Those words sprinkled fear excitement through the group. Finally they would be able to confront their enemy. Hopefully, now this whole 'game' will end.

Kiba jumped off one last tree branch and landed on some grass. The others did the same and landed next to him. They all looked around in wonder at the new area. They were standing on a large patch of grass. The patch of grass seemed to extend for a few miles. It looked almost as if a large patch of the forest was cut out and grass was placed there. It didn't look normal at all. Eventually, their eyes stopped wandering around the area and became focused on the figure standing on the grass a few meters away from them. They could clearly seea boy standing on the grass with a big smile on his face.

"Welcome, Konoha shinobi."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-  
A/N: Kinda short I know, but important none the less. Next chapter will be long and...'eventful' to say the least. Leave me a review please! Til next time.


	6. Awaited Clash

Chapter 6:

Awaited Clash

There it was! The trigger that brung forth total recall. The boy's face, his hair, his voice, and the annoying smile that was easily hated. Instantly, everything that happened in Naruto's dream rushed back into his mind. As he recalled his dream, Naruto gave the boy a murderous glare.

"It's you! You're the guy that's putting us through all this. You're the one that put me in a genjutsu!"

"Genjutsu?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Yes, that's right." the boy spoke. "Actually, you were all in my genjutsu, you just didn't know it."

"You bastard!" Kiba growled.

The four Konoha ninja stared at their enemy across the field. The boy had an entertained smirk, almost as if he was happy. Unlike in Naruto's dream, now the sky was bright so they could all see the boy clearly. The boy was wearing all black. He had the standard shinobi pants and sandals. Along with those he had a T-shirt on. There was also one weapon holster on each of his legs.

There was nothing but tension floating in the air. Silence crept across the field as both parties began staring each other down. Finally, the silence was broken when the boy chuckled lightly. He began laughing even louder as he looked into the angry faces before him. "So this is how you treat your enemy that has been hunting you? You try to stare me to death?" Kiba and Naruto began clenching their fists harder and harder. The boy seemed to know exactly how to bait them. "So this is how Konoha shinobi act. Pathetic."

"I've had enough of you!" the dog lover shouted. Kiba took off, running forward as fast as he could. Akamaru wasn't too far behind him.

"Kiba!" Shikamaru yelled after his comrade.

"Sorry, but I've had all I can take too!" Naruto dashed forward as well, running toward the enemy.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted. He reached out his hand but his teammate was already gone. "Dammit!"

Kiba clenched his teeth as he got closer to the boy. "I'm gonna knock that smirk right off your face!"

The boy continued to smile even as Kiba approached him. "You look way too tense," he said as he put his hands together, forming a handsign. Only a step away, Kiba cocked his fist back, ready to take the boy out. Quietly, the boy muttered something under his breath. "Genni kame jumon no jutsu." Suddenly, Kiba stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't just stop running, it looked as if he was frozen, his fist still cocked back. Akamaru was only a foot behind him, frozen just like his master.

'_What the hell,'_ Kiba thought as he tried to move.

Naruto stopped running when he saw Kiba abruptly stop. "Kiba!" he yelled.

"This is my strengthened turtle spell jutsu." The boy said while looking at Kiba. "Effective...isn't it!" The boy twisted around while lifting his right leg. He performed a 360 turn and kicked Kiba right in the chest. A cough of blood escaped his lips as his body flew backwards. Naruto wasn't expecting Kiba to fly back so far and fast. His eyes were only fast enough to watch Kiba fly past.

"Dammit," Shikamaru swore again. In a failed catch attempt, Kiba crashed into Shikamaru, sending them both flying backwards and back into the forest. Hinata could only gasp as she watched her friends disappear through the trees.

"You get the same treatment, mutt!" Naruto and Hinata turned their attention back to the boy to see his foot cocked back. He then kicked Akamaru in his side, sending him flying into another part of the forest.

"Damn you!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards the boy.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said as she ran to catch up.

Naruto crossed his fingers to perform his jutsu. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Four other Narutos emerged from a puff of smoke and they all approached the boy. One clone threw a punch at him only to be kicked in the gut and reduced back into a puff of smoke. Another clone threw a punch but the boy caught it with the palm of his hand. He grabbed the fist and jabbed his fist into the clones elbow, breaking the arm. With a yell, the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. The remaining three Narutos surrounded the boy and attacked from three different angles. Before the punches could collide, the boy formed another handsign and called out a jutsu.

"Genni usagi jumon no jutsu!" The boy then disappeared before each Naruto's eyes. One clone screamed as a kunai was suddenly shoved into his back. The boy's incredible speed kept him invisible to Naruto's eyes. Unable to see the attack, another clone was knocked to the side after a punch to the jaw. The two clones disappeared leaving the real Naruto alone. Before he could prepare for an attack, the boy kicked Naruto in the chest. Naruto fell and slid on the ground. He quickly sat up to see the boy standing in front of him.

"That's not going to work either." the boy said. He quickly side stepped, dodging Hinata's sneak attack from behind. The boy jumped behind her and punched her in the back. She yelped in pain as she fell forward, falling next to Naruto.

Naruto clenched his teeth as he rose to his feet. He turned to his side and offered Hinata a hand. "Are you alright?"

Hinata grabbed his hand and he helped her to her feet. "I'm okay, thanks." He released her hand and they both turned back toward their enemy.

The boy smiled at the leaf shinobi. "Those were some good tries, but looks like you couldn't even scratch me. You, the number one surprising knuckle-headed ninja." Naruto continued to stare down the boy. "And you, the heiress to the Hyuga clan."

"You should stop talking like you know us so well!" Naruto demanded.

"Oh but I do know you," the boy replied. "I exactly what you did to scar me personally." Naruto and Hinata looked incredulously at the boy. Could they have hurt a boy that they've never met before? "Now that I think about it, I know all about you but you know nothing of me. Well here's a start. My name is Miamoto Koga. Its nice to meet you."

"The feeling isn't mutual." Hinata stated.

For what seemed like the first time all day, the boy named Koga wiped the smirk off his face. He stared seriously at his enemies while they returned the favor. After being tricked and tortured for so long, Naruto had the chance to take out the enemy. He clenched his fist, not ready to let this opportunity slip past. Although a serious look was on her face, waves of uncertainty were pulsing through Hinata's body. She knew she had to fight, but after what the boy had already done, the little confidence she had was being overcome by doubt.

After a moment of seriousness, a small smirk once again grew on Koga's face. "Well this is lucky for me," he said. "Now at once I can take out both of you lovebirds!"

Hinata's face showed her shock. '_L-Lovebirds? How does he...?' _After hearing the statement, for a split second her guard was let down. A split second was all he needed.

Koga reached into his holster and tossed a few shuriken at the kunoichi. When her mind became focused on the fight, the shuriken were already too close.

"Hinata!" Before they could hit, the shuriken flew into Naruto's chest when he jumped in front of his teammate.

"Naruto-kun!" The Naruto that was hit then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"You sure love your clones huh." Koga stated. He turned around and saw two Narutos running at him. They both jumped into the air and aimed a kick at his head. Koga rolled to the side while taking out two more shuriken. As he sat right side up he threw the shuriken to have one pierce each Naruto's skull. He clenched his teeth as they both poofed away.

'_Where is the real one?'_ Koga thought. He quickly pulled out a kunai and turned around, deflecting each of the shuriken Naruto threw at him. '_Now he's re-throwing my own shuriken.'_ When Naruto ran out of ammo, Koga tossed the kunai into his chest. The Naruto smiled before poofing away.

"I gotcha!" Suddenly, Naruto appeared from behind, grabbing Koga's arms and pulling them behind his back. He pulled them tighter and tightened his grip. "Its over now." Naruto said.

"I don't think so." Koga tried to break free using his strength. Naruto clenched his teeth as the boy's power was becoming too much to handle. As Naruto's grip was loosened, Koga swung back his leg, kicking Naruto in a certain sensitive place between his legs. Naruto groaned and released Koga's arms. When Naruto fell to his knees Koga swung back his elbow and knocked him in the face. Koga turned around and stared at Naruto. "I thought you had me." Before he could say more, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke. "What?"

He heard footsteps from behind. He quickly turned around to see two Naruto's running at him. This time, they had a large blue swirling ball of chakra in their hands. They were too close to dodge. '_Dammit,'_ Koga thought as he clapped his hands together and formed a seal. He quickly tried to mutter a jutsu as the Naruto were only inches away.

"Oodama Rasengan!" Before the ball could hit, a blinding light shone from Koga's body. The Naruto's had to shield their eyes from the light. Then, each Naruto felt a hard slap to the face. Not only a slap, but they felt four sharp claws on their face as they were knocked aside. The rasengan disappeared and a clone turned into a puff of smoke. The real Naruto was knocked to the ground. He groaned from the pain. A bruise was on his cheek along with blood coming from four claw marks. '_What...is he?'_ Naruto thought.

Koga stood only a few feet away. He was thinking the same thing. '_How can someone make so many shadow clones? And that jutsu he used just now. It seems I was told correct. He is an extraordinary boy.'_ His thoughts were interrupted by a hard hit in his back. He growled at the pain. He quickly turned to see Hinata preparing to attack again, veins visible around her eyes. '_The byakugan?'_

Hinata yelled as she pushed her right palm forward. Koga pushed his left palm forward to counter her. As their palms connected, Koga winced from the pain. It wasn't because her attack was strong, but because of the chakra she was forcing into his body, disrupting the chakra flow in his arm. She pushed his left hand aside and attacked with her left. Koga held his right arm close and used it to shield his chest. Hinata struck his forearm, still pushing in chakra.

"Dammit," he swore as the pain was getting to him. Internal pain was much more deadly than external pain. He swung his right arm up to deflect her left palm. He balled his left hand into a fist and aimed a punch at Hinata's head. Seeing the attack with her amazing eyes, she tilted her head to the left, easily dodging the attack. With the opening he just gave her, Hinata used her jyuuken and gave Koga a powerful blow in his chest with her right palm. Blood dripped from his mouth as the blow knocked him backward. He kept his feet on the ground as he slid back. When he stopped moving he looked at Hinata, who was still in her fighting stance.

_'Dammit, fighting her at close range is dangerous. Maybe I should stop holding back and fight at full power.'_ As he looked at Hinata, that same smirk crept across his face. "I can't wait until we continue our fight so I can use my full power, but now it looks like we are going to be interrupted."

Hinata stared at Koga with a confused look. Suddenly, Koga jumped to the side. Hinata looked behind Koga to see her teammate, crouched down and performing a seal. His shadow stretched out trying to trap the enemy. "Shikamaru!"

Koga jumped left and right, dancing around Shikamaru's shadow. Finally, he jumped high into the air while staring at the lazy ninja. "I'm glad to see you're back, but your shadow can't do anything to an airborne opponent. It's useless!"

Now it was time for Shikamaru to smirk. '_That's what you think.'_ He stayed crouched down but he stared at the enemy and altered his handsign. "Kage nui no jutsu." As his shadow stretched, it split apart into about ten other small shadows. All together, they rose from the ground and flew through the air, heading for Koga.

"What's this?" Before he could react, each shadow stabbed through him. Some through the legs, some through the arm, and some through the chest. A puff of smoke covered the shadows. They revealed a large log being skewered by the shadows.

"A substitution!" Shikamaru quickly jumped to the side. A kunai fell from the sky and almost flew through his head. Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw the sparking paper bomb on the weapon. It exploded, sending him flying back before sliding on the ground. He tried to get up but the pain caused by the fall was making his leg unresponsive.

"Ah!" While on the ground, Shikamaru looked to his side as he heard the yell. He saw Hinata fall to the ground with Koga standing over her. He had a kunai in his hand. He held it up, ready to strike.

"Hinata!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Gatsuga!" Koga jumped into the air as a flying spinning whirlwind almost flew into him. When he landed, he jumped back to dodge another. He quickly looked from left to right. Two flying tornadoes were rapidly flying towards him from both directions. He couldn't dodge as they both crashed into the boy. Kiba and Akamaru stopped spinning as they looked between them. Chunks of wood was scattered everywhere. "It was a substitution!" He and Akamaru ran over to Hinata. Shikamaru was also able to crawl his way over there. "Are you guys alright?"

"You worms!" They all looked to the side to the Koga throwing a kunai at them. The exploding tag on it was already sparking. Kiba clenched his teeth as he reached into his holster to remember he had no weapons to deflect it with.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto dashed in front of his friends. As the kunai flew at him, he swung his open hand upward. As the tip of the weapon hit his palm, he pushed it upward, deflecting the kunai with his hand. It flew high into the air before exploding. Koga stared menacingly at the shinobi. Naruto just smiled as he looked at him. Blood was dripping from a cut on his right hand, which is what he used to deflect the kunai.

Koga stared at all his enemies. Kiba had helped Shikamaru and Hinata up and they all stood together. They also stared at their enemy not-too-fondly. Finally, he smiled at the Konoha ninja. "Well, this was fun." he said. The others never took the serious look off their faces. "This has been a nice preview of your powers. You're even stronger than you were back then. That's good."

"Back when?" Shikamaru yelled.

"That, you will know in due time."

"So what now? Are you just gonna run away?" Naruto asked. Koga smirked and nodded his head. "You really are a coward!"

"Me...a coward?" Koga said as he put his hands together to form a handsign. "Maybe, maybe not." And with that, a puff of smoke covered him. When the smoke blew away, he was gone.

Silence spread over the field. The once beautiful grass was now scarred with the effects of battle. The Konoha nin really didn't have much to say. They fought the enemy. They barely survived. The enemy escaped. He could still be watching and preparing more traps right now. Sure they survived the fight, but could they really call this a victory?

Shikamaru sighed when he saw that he would have to break the silence. "Is everyone okay?" No one seemed to want to answer. "I need a damage report. We need to get our weaknesses into the open. I have a bruised leg but nothing serious. Hinata..."

She looked at her leader but turned to look at the ground immediately after. "I have a bruise on my cheek where I was hit. Maybe a tooth is loose but nothing too bad." she said gloomily.

"Actually, I'm okay," Kiba spoke up. "That jutsu he used on me just took awhile to wear off. My chest still hurts a little but I'm okay.

Everyone else turned their attention to Naruto. He was looking down, his back turned to his comrades. He didn't feel like explaining his injuries. Besides, his wounds were obvious. His cheek was a little swollen and blood was dripping from the four claw marks. Also, blood dripped from the cut on his right hand.

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke. Naruto finally looked up. He turned and looked at Hinata. "I-I have some medicine that will help out all your cuts."

Naruto turned away. He bent down and sat on the grass. "Thanks," was all he said.

"You go ahead and help Naruto. Let me know when you're done." Shikamaru walked off towards the forest. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes, doing some much needed thinking. Kiba walked towards Akamaru and began talking to his partner. Hinata walked towards Naruto and sat down next to him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Special Hyuga Medicine. Her mood became gloomier when she thought of when she received the medicine. Her father was the one that gave it to her, but whenever they talked, he usually never had anything encouraging to say.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

_"Hinata. Are you still using that weak medicine that you buy from the store?"_

_"Y-Yes father."_

_"Here, take this. Perhaps you wouldn't need this if you were stronger but I see that's not going to happen."_

_"Special Hyuga Medicine?"_

_"Nurses in the side branch of the family came up with it. It is said to work especially well. Someone like Neji or even Hanabi would never be injured enough to need such a medicine. That is why I'm giving it to you. If you are somehow unhurt, the least you could do is use it on the teammates that are suffering from your lack of strength."_

_"I...I don't cause my teammates to suffer. I...I will be strong."_

_"Hinata, let me tell you something that you must always remember. I'm sure you will make plenty of mistakes in your lifetime. You will be strong when only you pay for your mistakes, not your teammates. If a teammate is injured and you must use this medicine to heal them, then you have failed to protect them. Don't think you are helpful when you are healing them. If you want to be helpful, prevent them from being hurt at all! Protect as many as you can and fight til your last breath. When the time of your death comes, die without regrets. Whether you have the chance to protect someone, complete a mission, do a good deed, or settle a mental dilemma. Die without regrets, Hinata."_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

She found it hard to stay positive. Here she was, using the medicine to heal a teammate who she had failed to protect. Everyone was hurt and she didn't save anyone. It was just like her father said. She was too weak.

Naruto continued to look down even when Hinata began applying the medicine. He refused to look at her. He refused to look at anyone. He wanted to save this evil, murderous glare for Koga and Koga alone. He hated him. He hated his guts. Now that Koga escaped, he could already sense the traps and torture that laid ahead. Why couldn't he defeat Koga now, when he had the chance? Why couldn't he protect his teammates from all the pain. Why was he so weak?

"I'm done." Hinata said as she stood up. Naruto slowly felt his cheek and looked at his right hand.

"Thanks," he said again as he stood up.

Suddenly, in the middle of the field, a small bright beam of light shot forth from the ground into the air. The Konoha shinobi looked and saw the light. It was only there for a second. Moments later, the light just disappeared. Naruto's face grew angrier at the thought of who might be behind it.

"What was that?" Hinata asked.

"I say we ignore it." Kiba said as he approached her.

"We could, but if its the next riddle then that may not be such a good idea." Shikamaru suggested.

Naruto turned and walked toward where the light shone. "Let's check it out." he said seriously. All objections were dismissed and the ninja followed Naruto to the center of the field. When they arrived, all they saw was a small hole in the ground.

"It's just a hole." Kiba said.

"Yeah, but how often do you see light shoot from underground?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto bent down and looked into the tiny hole. He shook his head and stood back up. "I can't see anything. It's too dark. Who knows how deep it goes."

The whole group's eyes darted over to Hinata. She nodded her head, formed a handsign, and called out her jutsu. "Byaku..."

Before she could finish, a small black ball suddenly shot out of the small hole. The group gasped when they saw the small smoke bomb. As it flew up, it exploded sending dark smoke in all directions.

"Not again!" Both Kiba and Naruto yelled. Lucky for them, this smoke didn't have any special effects like the last one did. Kiba and Akamaru jumped out of the smoke and landed on the grass. They looked at the smoke in front of them to see Shikamaru emerge from the smoke a moment later.

"Where's Naruto and Hinata?" he asked.

"They might have gotten out on the other side." Kiba suggested. Then, without warning, the earth began to shake violently. Kiba and Shikamaru fell to the ground as the quake shook their sense of balance. After a few seconds, the earthquake ended.

"What was that?" Shikamaru asked to himself. He looked over at Kiba before looking back at the dark smoke that was starting to blow away. When the smoke was gone, they were both shocked at what they saw.

The once small hole was now a rather large crater. A normal earthquake couldn't turn a small hole into a crater. A jutsu, perhaps? Shikamaru and Kiba weren't worried about what they saw, but more worried about who they didn't see. Those two and Akamaru were the only ones left in the field. Their other comrades were nowhere to be seen.

"Naruto! Hinata!"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N: Well that was a cool chapter. I know I enjoyed writing it. Seeing as how this is my first chapter with a big fight, now I'm going to start adding jutsu translation down here whenever I use unfamiliar jutsu. Hopefully, this will settle a few complaints.

kage bunshin no jutsu = (obviously) shadow clone jutsu

kage nui no jutsu = shadow sewing jutsu

genni kame jumon no jutsu = strengthened tortoise spell jutsu

genni usagi jumon no jutsu = strengthened hare spell jutsu

jyuuken = gentle fist

gatsuga = fang over fang

Ok, that's it for this chapter. And also please leave a review. Reviews are what keep me going. ^_^


	7. Unspoken Secrets

Chapter 7:

Unspoken Secrets

"Damn it!" Kiba frantically threw rocks and dirt clots out of his way as he continued to search. Shikamaru and Akamaru were with him doing the same thing. They all were in the crater searching for their disappearing comrades. "Damn it! Where the hell are they?"

Shikamaru sighed and stood up. Kiba stopped his search to look at his leader. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Then what do you think we should do?" Kiba said while standing.

Shikamaru looked around the crater. It was rather large, but nothing unusual as far as craters go. He looked back up at Kiba. "You and Akamaru use your Gatsuga and dig. See if you can find anything."

"Gotcha!" Kiba said, eager to get started. Shikamaru walked out of the crater and looked at Kiba and Akamaru who were in the middle of it. Kiba clapped his hands together. "Lets go, Akamaru. Gatsuga!" They both ran in opposite directions. When they reached the edge of the crater they jumped and began to spin. As they formed their flying tornadoes, they met in the air and went straight down to towards the center of the crater. The whirlwinds spun around each other and dug into the ground. Dust and rocks were easily blown aside. Shikamaru moved his arm to shield his eyes as debris was sent his way. He waited until the digging was over. When the sound of smashing rocks and the tremor of the earth ended, Shikamaru walked over to the hole his teammates just created. It was large in size and the hole was very deep. He couldn't even see the bottom or his teammates.

"I can't find anything," he heard Kiba's voice say. "Through the rocks I can't find Naruto or Hinata's scent. Most likely that smoke bomb erased their scent."

Shikamaru sighed and turned away from the hole. "Okay. Come back up." He heard rocks fall as Kiba and Akamaru climbed to the top. While they ascended, he crouched down and closed his eyes. With one knee and his other foot on the ground, he put his hands together by touching the tips of each finger together with the ones on the other hand, forming a square. As the leader, he was in a tough situation with two of his team members missing. He spent a minute or two meditating, trying to find the best course of action.

Kiba and Akamaru finally emerged from the hole to find Shikamaru quietly meditating. They just stood to the side and waited for the next orders.

"Okay," Shikamaru said as he opened his eyes. He stood up and turned toward Kiba. "It looks like we only have one course of action to take." Kiba stood quietly waiting for him to go on. "We have to continue the mission. The two...well three of us must head toward the sand village."

"Are you sure?" Kiba couldn't help but complain. "If Naruto and Hinata are still around here somewhere then do you really want to leave them?"

"We have no choice. If you didn't find anything in the hole and can't smell their scent then we have nothing left to go on. There is nothing else in this clearing and if they are in the forest then there are unlimited possibilities to where they could be. We have to think of the mission. Besides, Hinata is a chunin and Naruto...well he's Naruto. We have to trust that they will be okay and eventually go to the sand village in search of us. It's our only option."

Kiba clenched his teeth as he listened to his leader. He was right. Of course he was right. He had to complete the mission. He wasn't too fond of leaving his teammates behind, but he had to believe in them. "Okay," he finally said. "I'm ready when you are."

Shikamaru saw Kiba's unpleased look. He didn't want to have to leave his friends behind either, but it was necessary. By looking at the scars their previous battle inflicted on the field, Shikamaru was able to remember the point where they entered the clearing, which also allowed him to think back to which direction they were traveling in to reach the village before Kiba smelt the scent of that note. His memory and attention to details was remarkable. "Sunagakure is in that direction," he said while pointing. "As always, you and Akamaru lead the way."

Kiba ran in the direction Shikamaru was pointing. When he reached the end of the field and the beginning of the forest, he jumped onto a tree branch and headed toward his mission's objective. Akamaru was right beside him and Shikamaru wasn't too far behind.

Nara Shikamaru. When it came to mission leaders, Kiba enjoyed working under the lazy chunin. Of course he knew how lazy Shikamaru could be. Everyone knew that, but when he got down to business and began leading his team, it was obvious that he deserved to be a chunin. Not only is his analytical thinking power far superior to most ninja, but his leadership qualities were also quite impressive. He is able to make strategies that utilize each of his teammates special abilities effectively. Kiba especially liked this. It was nice for someone to recognize all of his power and even suggest things that he would have never thought of that would make his jutsu even more deadly. Since he was an exceptional shinobi and part of his own rookie nine graduation class, Kiba unquestionable showed complete respect.

As they traveled through the forest, Shikamaru, like always, was deep in thought, thinking of the future, his teammates, and his enemy. '_Miamoto Koga,'_ he thought to himself. He was hiding in a bush near the field while Koga introduced himself. He heard everything he said while waiting for a chance to launch a sneak attack. Of course his sneak attack failed, but at least now he has some information.

'_I know I definitely haven't heard that name before. He told Naruto and Hinata that they scarred him personally. Do they know who he is? Could he have been talking about all four of us? And now Naruto and Hinata are missing. In that smoke he could have grabbed any of us. Why them? Was it just random, or did he do it intentionally? Did he really call them lovebirds?'_ There were so many questions and not enough time. If this was a game of shogi, he might have surrendered by now. Its like playing against an enemy with their pieces completely hidden and having half of his pieces swiftly taken away. The odds were against him. If only this was a game of shogi, but its not. Its real life. He couldn't surrender, not now, not ever.

"Look out!" Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts just in time to see a kunai aimed right at his head. He tried to tilt his head but was a little too slow. He felt it fly past him, making a cut and causing blood to slide down his cheek. He noticed Kiba looking behind him so he turned around. He was less than pleased to see a note attached to the tree just under where the kunai was embedded.

"What a shock," Kiba said sarcastically.

Shikamaru walked over to the note and snatched it from the tree. He unfolded it and began to read aloud:

**Shikamaru and Kiba,**

**I'm your biggest fan.**

**I admire you,**

**continuing with your main plan.**

**Its a shame what happened,**

**to that boy and that girl.**

**But it was necessary,**

**for my future plans to unfurl.**

**This news may shake you,**

**like the most fierce wind,**

**but to catch me,**

**you must first accuse a friend.**

**There's a traitor among you!**

**think as you journey to the sand.**

**Find out who,**

**and punish them with your own hand.**

**Want a hint?**

**Wouldn't that just be sublime?**

**Think hard,**

**about the first of every rhyme.**

**0:00**

"That was longer than the others." Kiba pointed out.

Shikamaru nodded his head. "Also, the time at the bottom is all zeros. I guess that means that we aren't in any immediate danger."

"A traitor huh," Kiba mumbled, but Shikamaru heard him clearly.

"Yeah," he agreed softly. They stood silently thinking of all the possibilities for a second. A traitor. Is it true? Who would do that? Why? Thinking that one of their closest friends could actually be the enemy was a tough pill to swallow. "Kiba, lets move. I'll try to decipher this note while we travel. We can't waste any more time."

"Right," Kiba answered. He rushed off toward their destination and Shikamaru and Akamaru followed.

As they moved, Shikamaru kept reading the note over and over in his head. '_Think hard about the first of every rhyme. I assume he means the rhymes in his riddles. Does he mean just the ones in this riddle or all of them?' _He sighed._ 'Only one way to find out.'_

He took another look at the latest riddle, doing just as it commanded. '_All the rhymes are fan and plan, girl and unfurl, wind and friend, sand and hand, and sublime and rhyme. If I take the first of these rhymes, I end up with fan, girl, wind, sand, and sublime. What could those words mean.' _He began thinking of many possibilities. Fan. Girl. Wind. Sand. Sublime. Wait. No. "No way!" Shikamaru said, a little louder than he wanted.

"What?" Kiba asked while looking back. Shikamaru looked up and tried to look normal, despite the things he was feeling on the inside.

"Oh...nothing," he responded. Kiba gave him a strange look before looking ahead again.

Shikamaru clenched his teeth as he thought more and more. '_No...no way. Is this right? Let me put it all together. She is a girl, she carries a fan, she attacks with wind, and she lives in the sand village. I'm not sure about sublime, but those other words were dead-on. Does that mean that...'_ He couldn't even bring himself to think it. '_Temari...you really are a troublesome woman, aren't you?'_

"Look out!" Kiba yelled.

"Again?" Shikamaru muttered. Because of that last attack Shikamaru was more prepared than before. He tilted his head and fully dodged a kunai. He saw Kiba move to dodge a few too. They both landed on a tree and looked down on the ground. This wasn't a trap. They could see two ninja looking up at the tree they were in. One was short and a little chubby with brown hair. The other was tall and skinny with blonde hair. Their obvious similarities were their sand village chunin vests and the Sunagakure headbands they were wearing.

"Sand ninja?" Kiba questioned. When he did, the short ninja threw another kunai at him. "Hey!" Kiba jumped to the ground to dodge and Akamaru jumped after him.

"Hey, we're from Konoha." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah," Kiba said angrily as he landed on the ground. "We're Konoha ninja. Your allies. Check the headband," he said while angrily shaking the leaf village symbol that was over his forehead. Shikamaru jumped down from the tree and landed next to Kiba. He also shook his headband to show his affiliation.

The other sand ninja spoke up. "So you must be...Nara Shikamaru...and Inuzuka Kiba from Konoha."

Kiba and Shikamaru's heartbeats settled down. "Yeah we are." Shikamaru said.

"I see," the short and chubby sand ninja said. "Then this is no mistake!" Kiba and Shikamaru's heartbeats jumped right back up again when the sand ninja performed a few quick seals and slammed his hand on the ground. "Doton: Joushou Supaiku no Jutsu!" Large spikes of earth began shooting up from the ground. The Konoha ninja's eyes widened as the spikes burst up from the ground, heading right towards them.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Her eyes slowly opened. Her hand quickly moved up to hold her head. '_Oooooh my head is killing me.'_ In front of her she could see a jagged wall made of earth. '_Where am I?'_ She endured the pain of her aching head and sat up. She looked forward at the wall. '_Am I...underground?'_

"Hinata."

She turned around to see Naruto sitting up and slowly rubbing his head. For once her eyes weren't locked on Naruto. Now they were too busy exploring her surroundings. They were underground. The walls, floor, and ceiling was made of stone. She could see one lantern attached to the jagged wall providing light. What concerned her was when she saw the other lanterns down the long winding tunnel. Apparently, they were at the beginning, or perhaps the end, of a long tunnel.

"Hinata," Naruto said again. She looked over at him. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she managed to say. She used the wall to help stand up and Naruto did the same.

"So...where are we?" he asked with a smile, though he knew she wouldn't know.

"I'm not sure," she responded. "Where is Shikamaru...and Kiba and Akamaru?"

"I don't know. If they were here then they wouldn't have left us. Maybe they were taken somewhere else?" Naruto suggested.

"Maybe." This was a really bad situation. They were separated from their teammates and thrown into an unknown area by the enemy. Plus, they were underground in a tunnel. Is it one tunnel or a whole labyrinth? Their position was definitely not a favorable one.

"I see you two are finally awake." Naruto and Hinata began frantically looking around as they heard the voice. "Try looking up. In the corner." They both looked up and were able to follow the voice. Up in the corner of the wall they could see an intercom with a piece of paper attached to it.

Naruto growled out loud. "It's you!" he yelled, not sure if the enemy could even hear him.

"Thanks for the introduction," Koga's voice said through the intercom, proving that he could hear them.

"Where are we? Where are the others?" Hinata asked.

"The others are unimportant right now?" Koga said sternly. "You two, however, are in my special dungeon, which will soon become your tombs. I'm sure you'll learn to love this place."

Naruto already began cracking his knuckles. He wanted to take out Koga once and for all. "So what now? You're just gonna leave us to die in this place that's probably full of traps?" Naruto asked angrily.

A laugh could be heard over the intercom. "Maybe, maybe not. But before I let you test out that theory, why don't you read the note that's attached to this intercom."

"Why not just tell us?" Hinata asked.

"I could but what fun would that be?" he asked. After staring at the note for a second, Naruto reluctantly made his way over to the intercom. "I don't think so," the voice said. "Let Hinata take the note."

"What's the difference?" Naruto asked.

"You'll find out. Hinata, take the note my dear." Hinata wasn't at all pleased with the 'my dear' part. She slowly walked over to the intercom. The ceiling wasn't very high, but she still had to jump to snatch the note from the intercom. "Don't read it out loud." Koga commanded. "Read it to yourself."

Hinata looked up at intercom in confusion. '_Why not read it aloud?'_ she thought. She knew it would be useless to argue so she walked over to the lantern to get more light. Naruto could only watch as Hinata opened the note and began to read to herself.

**Hinata,  
****  
I have a special job for you.**

**Entertain me,**

**this should be fun to watch you go through.**

**You tell him,**

**while I listen from above.**

**Tell Naruto,**

**all about you secret love.**

**I know you,**

**so don't lie or pick one thing to talk about.**

**Tell it all,**

**I want you to spill your entire heart out.**

**Love, admiration, respect,**

**make sure he knows.**

**Or else his life may end,**

**beginning your woes.**

**1:30**

"...."

Silence. In Naruto's ears, there was nothing to be heard. In Hinata's, however, the only noise to be heard was her frightened heart beating faster...and faster...and faster. '_I must...tell...Naruto-kun...everything!?"_ Her arms fell to her side and she let the note fall to the ground.

"Your time begins now," came Koga's voice.

Naruto never stopped looking away from Hinata. Her back was turned to him so he couldn't see her face. It looked like she was just standing there, staring at the wall. "Hinata? Everything okay?"

She ignored him. She was too busy battling with her mind and her emotions. '_I can do this. I have to do this. Or else...Naruto-kun will...' _She shook that thought from her mind. _'I have to. I'm just going to tell him.'_

"Hinata," Naruto called again. This time she did respond. She turned around and looked over at Naruto. She stared into his eyes. This was it. It had to be done.

As Naruto looked into her eyes, he was shocked at her emotion. Usually, Naruto would be the last person to be able to read someone's emotions, but now it was as if it was written on her face. So many feelings evident in one stare. Uncertainty. Helplessness. Sadness. The most obvious: fear.

"N-Naruto-kun," she started. She slowly began walking over to him.

"Hinata." Naruto quickly moved closer to her. That painful stare she was giving was making him worried. He softly put both of his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Hinata continued to look into his eyes. When he touched her, she could feel his heat warming her entire body. They were close together. He was right in front of her. Her mind kept telling her the next thing to do.

'_Tell him.'_

"N-Naruto-kun, you have to know." Speaking was tough and it was getting tougher and tougher with each word. "For so long...there has been some...something I've been wanting to tell you." She stopped there. There was so much more that needed to be said and she had trouble finding the words.

A look of confusion briefly showed on Naruto's face. He could tell that she was having a hard time saying whatever it was. He tried to make it as easy for her as possible. "What is it?" When he said that, the voice in Hinata's mind ordered her again.

'_Tell him.'_

"Naruto-kun, I...I...I..." She repeated it a few more times. Now the look of confusion stayed on Naruto's face. Hinata stopped repeating the word and remained silent. Her throat was dry. Her lips refused to cooperate. Her eyes began to get watery and one tear found its way down her cheek.

'_Why am I crying? What's wrong with me? What's going on."_

"Hinata?" Naruto saw the tear fall. He could see new tears forming in her eyes. His hold on her tightened slightly. He unconsciously pulled her closer to him. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Hinata?"

Hinata felt as if she was frozen. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She couldn't avert her eyes away from Naruto's deep blue orbs. It was as if she shut down. The only activity going on with her was her conscience yelling at her as tears continued to fall.

'_Tell him!'_

She could barely see anything through her tears, but she could see the look of worry on Naruto's face. Why was she behaving like this? It was just three words. Three words! Surely she could will her lips to say three words. She saw Naruto move his lips, but she couldn't hear him. Her heartbeat was the only thing pounding in her eardrums. She had to tell him. She HAD to tell him! Through her deafening heartbeat, her blurring tears, and her overwhelming fear, she was able to control her lips and begin to speak with her conscience commanding her one last time.

'_TELL HIM!'_

"Naruto-kun....I love you!"

The expression on Naruto's face changed dramatically. It went straight from worried to deeply pained. As soon as the words left Hinata's lips, Naruto released a glass shattering yell. He fell forward onto Hinata. Her emotional struggle didn't leave her with much strength. She fell back and Naruto fell to the ground. When her back hit the wall and kept her from hitting the ground, that's when she finally saw the five kunai stuck in her love's back.

"Naruto-kun!" Tears were still in her eyes but she could see the weapons clearly. She moved forward and fell to her knees. "Naruto-kun!" she yelled again. Naruto's face showed no kind of response. Hinata found it hard to breathe. Before she could even begin to force her mind to pull it together, a cold, unnerving voice rang in her ears.

"Sorry, but you ran out of time."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-  
A/N: For that jutsu that was used.

Doton: Joushou Supaiku no Jutsu = Earth Style: Rising Spike Jutsu

This story is definitely getting juicier. Please Review


	8. Know Your Ally

A/N: Well well well, hello everybody! I got a nice amount of reviews last chapter ^_^ which makes me very happy. I would like to thank all my reviewers! Thanks a million! I'm happy to hear that people are anticipating what happens next and that a few people hate Koga. Heehee, that makes me happy too. Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 8:

Know Your Ally

It was unusually quiet as the girl walked down the large hall. Usually there are plenty of ninja around or at least plenty of noise could be heard. Maybe it was because a certain ninja wasn't there to bother her today or because something important recently happened. Either reason, she enjoyed the silence as she approached the large door which led to her leader. She knocked lightly.

"Enter." came a voice.

She opened the door to see the Fifth Hokage stamping papers at her desk. The Godaime didn't look up as she hurried trying to knock out another stack of papers before noon. When she stamped the last paper, she looked up at the kunoichi standing before her.

"Sakura, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Lady Tsunade." the pink-haired girl responded.

"That's good. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" she asked, happy to be done with work for a while.

"Oh I'm here for Shizune," she said as she recalled. "Shizune was busy at the hospital treating some patients so she said she couldn't come back here to assist you. My shift just ended so I asked if I could go in her place while she was working. I hope that's alright with you."

Tsunade gave a smile. She put her elbows on the desk and held up her head with her fists. "Well, looks like Shizune got out of being my assistant for today, but at least I have you," she said with an almost evil smirk.

Sakura gulped when she saw the Hokage's expression. At the hospital she had heard Shizune complaining about being Tsunade's assistant a few times. At first she didn't think that the Hokage would overwork her assistant too much, but now that she's looking at the evil grin, she's having second thoughts.

She was almost afraid to ask. "So...umm...what do you need me to do first?"

Tsunade continued to grin. She pointed to the floor beside her desk. Sakura looked and that's when she noticed a few large stacks of files. There were easily over ten stacks of papers. "First, I need you to take these stacks of papers down to the distribution room so they can be organized and delivered to whoever needs them."

Sakura stared wide-eyed at the papers. If she carried a stack she would barely be able to see over them. She sighed as she looked back at the Hokage. "Where is the..."

Almost reading her mind, Tsunade cut her off. "In the basement. Down the stairs then down the hall to your right then down the stairs to the left and then it's the second door to the right."

Sakura let out a deep breath. This was going to be a looong day. She wanted to complain but decided against it. She knew extremely well not to argue with the Hokage. Besides, she didn't want to become as bad as Naruto. Deciding to act while she still remembered the directions, Sakura began moving each stack of papers to the distribution room.

'_At least she doesn't complain like Shizune,'_ Tsunade thought. Watching Sakura's shocked face was fun enough, so now she had to get back to work. She sighed as she continued to stamp the next stack of papers that occupied her desk.

Sakura was breathing heavily as she approached the Hokage door again. Around thirty minutes had passed. Fourteen stacks! She had moved fourteen stacks of paper from the fifth floor all the way to the basement. She stood to catch her breath before opening the door. She looked on the floor to see one stack of paper left. She would've been happy if she didn't see the stack that the Hokage was almost finished with.

The kunoichi lazily walked over to pick up the stack of papers. When she had them firmly in her hands, she continued towards the door.

"WHAT!" Sakura heard a yell from behind her that caused her to drop the hundreds of papers on the floor. She turned to see Tsunade staring angrily at a file.

"What is it?" Sakura asked concerned.

"How could I have missed this?" she yelled mostly talking to herself. She looked up to see the worried look on Sakura's face. "I need to form a team immediately! It looks like this distress call from Sunagakure was buried under all my other files. Someone must check this out now! Sakura, go out and look for three to four chunin or higher ranked ninja. Hurry!"

Sakura quickly made a dash for the door but before she could exit, she stopped and turned to the Hokage. "Wait, but I thought you sent a team to the sand village already."

"What do you mean?" she asked, still not happy.

"Well umm," she started, trying to think while ignoring the angry eyes staring at her. "Yesterday, I saw Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Kiba. They said that they were going to the sand village to check out something."

Tsunade stood confused for a moment. '_I didn't send them,'_ she thought to herself. She took a second to examine the document. It turns out in her fit of rage, she failed to notice the small fire country stamp at the bottom of the file. '_Did I send them?'_

Sakura looked confused at the Hokage. "Are you alright?"

Tsunade looked up from the file. She quickly dismissed her anger and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine. Nevermind, you're right I did sent that team yesterday." She sat back in her chair and sighed. She wondered why she didn't remember sending them. '_Note to self, lay off the sake.'_

Before she got back to work, Tsunade took a look at Sakura and then turned her attention to the floor. "You can pick those papers up now," she ordered.

Sakura's eye twitched as she looked down at the hundreds of papers on the floor. She sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The two shinobi scattered as the earth spikes rapidly approached them. They jumped in different directions each landing on the side of a tree. Shikamaru clenched his teeth. "We're your allies!" he yelled.

The two sand shinobi ignored him. The tall sand nin reached into a pouch and tossed a few shuriken at Kiba. The dog-nin clenched his teeth before jumping off to avoid them. Shikamaru's eyes glanced at his teammate for a second. When he looked forward again, the shorter ninja was already running towards him. The enemy jumped into the air and headed right for him. Shikamaru jumped away to evade the charge. As he landed on another tree branch, he saw the tree he previously stood on being broken apart by his opponent's fist.

'_He's strong,'_ Shikamaru thought. The sand ninja pulled his fist away from the tree and jumped at Shikamaru. The shadow master jumped right at the shinobi. They flew past each other launching an attack but they both parried each other. Shikamaru eyed his opponent while he gripped his kunai. It was a good thing he decided to bring it. It was the same kunai that sliced his cheek and was stuck in the tree along with their last riddle.

"I knew that our alliance would never last, leaf scum!" The sand ninja shouted. He put his hands together after forming a few seals. "Doton: Fo-Kasu Dangan no Jutsu!" He held his palm out to Shikamaru and slowly began closing it into a fist. As he did this, Shikamaru felt the ground shake. He looked down from the tree and saw small rocks being ripped from the earth and shoot towards him. He jumped from the tree as the rocks flew and punctured the tree. "You can't run forever." The sand ninja kept his hand aimed at Shikamaru and rocks continued to fly.

'_I have to immobilize him soon.'_ Shikamaru jumped from branch to branch dodging the small speeding rocks. '_I can't keep this up forever.'_

Elsewhere, Kiba and Akamaru began their assault on the other sand ninja. "Gatsuga!" They both spun at high speeds and flew at the enemy. The taller sand shinobi jumped into the air and dodged their initial strikes. Kiba and Akamaru both changed directions and flew at their airborne target. The ninja landed on a nearby tree branch and moved again to dodge another attack.

"You sure are an agile guy," Kiba taunted. "But you won't get away from us!" Kiba flew through a branch in an attempt to hit his enemy. After plenty of other failed attack attempts, the sand ninja found himself standing on the ground. Kiba and Akamaru were both shooting at him from two different directions. "We got you now!"

The sand ninja quickly glanced at his attackers and then clapped his hands together. "Fuuton: Kaze Enchou no Jutsu!" Before Kiba and Akamaru could hit, wind surrounded him. It swirled all around him creating a dome of protective wind. Kiba and Akamaru crashed into the dome but couldn't penetrate it. Eventually, they were both knocked aside by the wind. Kiba was able to stay on his feet. He stared at his enemy as the wind died down.

'_That's some defence,'_ he thought. '_I haven't seen a move like that since Neji's spinning defence.'_ When his thought ended, he heard a crash coming from behind him. He turned around and saw Shikamaru sliding on the ground not too far away from him.

"Shikamaru!" Kiba tried to go help his teammate but before he could take two steps, he saw more earth spikes coming at them. He jumped back to avoid the rising spikes. Shikamaru quickly jumped to his feet and jumped away from the attack. When the lazy chunin landed on a tree branch, he was shocked when he sensed chakra behind him. He turned his head and saw the chubby sand ninja standing behind him with his fist in the air.

"Too slow!"

'_He's fast too!'_ Shikamaru screamed in his head. He didn't have time to dodge as the sand ninja brung his fist down onto his head.

Kiba turned to look at the branch his comrade just jumped to. All he saw was dust fly up as the tree crashed into the ground. "Shikamaru!" he yelled again. He was about to assist him but a sound behind him caught his attention. He turned around and saw the other enemy charging at him. Before the sand nin could get close, however, he jumped back when Akamaru flew in front of him to protect Kiba. "Thanks boy," he said to his partner. He decided to trust that Shikamaru was okay and keep his eyes on his enemy.

"Don't worry, Kiba. I'm fine." While focusing on his enemy's chakra to make sure he didn't go anywhere, Kiba once again turned his attention toward Shikamaru. When the dust cleared he could see Shikamaru and the sand ninja simply standing while facing each other. He could also see the dark shadow on the ground between them. Shikamaru smirked while looking at his opponent. "Kage Mane no Jutsu is a success."

The sand ninja obviously didn't look pleased. "Why can't I move? What did you do to me?" he yelled.

Shikamaru sighed. "I'm sure by know you noticed our connecting shadows. My jutsu makes you imitate whatever I do," he said. He reached his hand up to scratch the back of his head. Much to the sand nin's surprise, his hand also reach up and scratched his head. "Now this match is over." Shikamaru began walking forward. Involuntarily, the sand ninja also stepped forward. They moved until they were only inches apart.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I've studied you," Shikamaru said simply. "You use your earth style jutsu's often as your main source of attack. While your opponent is dodging that, you use your impressive speed and strength for surprise attacks. Judging from your fighting style, I'm assuming that you don't have any other skills outside of taijutsu and earth element ninjutsu. That means that as long as I have you trapped there is nothing you can do. My jutsu is stronger when I'm closer to my opponent. Now that we're this close together, there's no way your brute strength can counter me." He smirked. "Did I miss anything?"

The sand ninja clenched his teeth in anger. Everything that the lazy chunin said was correct. He didn't have any jutsu's that could help him in this situation. He tried to move using his strength but Shikamaru's jutsu was too strong at this range. "So then, what now. I mimic whatever you do. So what! Are we going to punch each other until one of us falls out? Or are you going to keep me trapped until you friend can finish off my partner. I doubt you have the chakra for that."

Shikamaru smirked once again. Underestimation and ignorance. Those could always put a smile on his face. "Nah, I have something better in mind." He brung his hands together and formed a new handsign. The sand ninja didn't copy this action, but he felt something happening. Something was crawling up his body. He looked down and saw a shadow in the shape of a hand slowly moving up his body. "Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu." The shadow hand moved up until it was able to grab ahold of his neck.

"Rikujou!" the other sand ninja yelled. He tried to rush over to his partner but was blocked by Kiba.

"So, his name is Rikujou. You know us so well so who are you?" Kiba asked.

The sand ninja stared at him. "If you must know, I am Tenkuu. It doesn't matter, however, because I will follow my orders and defeat you."

"Orders? Whose orders?"

Tenkuu ignored Kiba's question. "I didn't think I would have to use this," he said suddenly. He put his hands together and formed some handsigns. Kiba felt a gust of wind push him back. He looked and could see that wind was being blown outward from the sand ninja in all directions. "Fuuton: Tatsumaki Soujuu no Jutsu!" Slowly, the sand ninja's feet began rising off the ground. Wind surrounded his body and began to twist beneath him. Tenkuu rose into the air with a violent twister holding him up. He looked down at Kiba who was struggling against the wind.

Kiba looked up at his opponent. He was floating in the air with a tornado twisting under him. Strong gusts of wind were still trying to blow Kiba off his feet. Shikamaru looked to the side when he felt the intense wind. '_This could be trouble.'_

"That's an interesting technique and all but it's nothing we can't handle!" Kiba yelled at the sand shinobi. Akamaru barked determinedly beside him.

Tenkuu showed a small smirk. "Well, lets see if you can take this." Tenkuu held his right arm up. Then, he held his hand flat open and swung it down, like he was cutting the air in front of him. Kiba looked up at him puzzled. Suddenly, the dog-ninja felt something coming. He didn't see anything but his instincts told him to move...fast. Kiba jumped to the nearest tree branch and Akamaru followed. As soon as he lifted from the ground, a large cut appeared on the ground. Kiba landed on the tree branch and looked back at it in wonder. '_What the hell?'_

He quickly looked back at Tenkuu and saw him swing his arm horizontally in the air. Kiba and Akamaru jumped from the tree branch just before the entire top half of the tree was cut off. '_He can slice things with wind that I can't even see!'_ He looked at Tenkuu again and saw him swing his arm vertically. This time, he noticed that it wasn't aimed in his direction. It was aimed at his teammate. "Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru was glancing over at Kiba's fight and saw Tenkuu's abilities. He knew what was coming next. "Damn it!" He released the handsign he was using and jumped back. Another large cut was sliced into the ground. Rikujou coughed and gasped for air when the hand that was holding his neck withdrew.

"You can thank me later, Rikujou," the other sand ninja said. This time using both arms he swung them aiming at both Kiba and Shikamaru. They both jumped away avoiding the invisible slashes.

"Yeah!" Rikujou exclaimed excitedly. "You can't handle us, leaf scum!" He clapped his hands together and formed a few seals. "Doton: Doro Nigiri no Jutsu!" A circle appeared on the ground in front of him. The earth inside the circle instantly turned to mud. Out of the mud rose a large hand. "Lets see how you like being in my grip." The muddy hand shot forward at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru landed on another tree branch after dodging another wind slice. He noticed the oversized mud hand coming for him. He jumped and the mud collided with the tree. '_We can't just keep jumping around in the trees,' _he thought. He knew Kiba was thinking the same thing. They couldn't keep this up. '_We need a plan.'_

When he landed on the ground, he didn't noticed a circle appear on the ground behind him and another large mud hand rising. When his senses finally picked up on it, he turned around but the hand was too close for him to dodge. "Back off!" Lucky for him, Kiba's Gatsuga slammed into the hand. Mud flew everywhere when Kiba bashed through the hand.

Even though mud was being thrown on him, Shikamaru's eyes widened. '_There's an idea,'_ he thought. He quickly looked over at Tenkuu who was still riding his tornado. '_And it just might work.'_

Kiba landed next to Shikamaru. "So, you have an idea yet?" Akamaru jumped next to Kiba and barked.

"Yeah. Lets hope we can pull it off," he responded. Kiba moved closer to him and Shikamaru told him his plan.

"Sounds pretty daring," Kiba said while thinking. "Oh well. That's the best shot we have."

When the feeling came to them, they both jumped away and another slice was made in the ground. While in the air, Shikamaru smirked at his teammate. "I'm counting on you."

Kiba landed on the ground and smirked before running. "Yeah. Lets do it!" Kiba and Akamaru spotted Rikujou and ran in his direction. The sand ninja noticed this and used his jutsu again.

"You can't stop me," he said while another large mud hand rose from the ground.

Kiba and his partner didn't slow down. "Lets do this, Akamaru." Both him and Akamaru began spinning and created two spinning tornadoes. Then both of the tornadoes began spinning around each other. They merged together and formed a larger and more powerful spinning attack. "Tensouga!" They blew through the mud hand with ease.

Rikujou's eyes widened in shock. He jumped away and narrowly avoided the attack. When he landed, he saw Kiba and Akamaru's joint attack still heading for him. He clenched his teeth and formed more seals. Spikes of earth began rising from the ground to block their path. Kiba and Akamaru crashed through the spikes like they were nothing. Their combination attack was too powerful to be stopped by earth.

Rikujou jumped away again but was still being targeted by the large spinning tornado. "Damn it! Tenkuu...help!"

Tenkuu was still floating upon his tornado. He was wildly swinging his arms trying to land an attack. Shikamaru never stopped jumping and running. He dodged every invisible strike. "I'm busy!" Tenkuu yelled back at his partner. He swung his arm once in Rikujou's direction to help him out. Just before the invisible strike could hit the duo, Kiba and Akamaru split apart forming their on attack again. They both continued to separately fly at Rikujou.

The wind user noticed their dodge and swung his arms, launching more attacks at Kiba and Akamaru. The leaf duo continued to dodge the strikes while keeping Rikujou on the run. "They're too hard to hit," Tenkuu said annoyed. "I can't land a..." Before he could finish, he yelled from the pain coming from his leg. He quickly looked down and saw what just looked like a mass of darkness through his leg. He yelled again when his other leg was struck in the same way. The tornado he was riding died down instantly and Tenkuu fell to the ground.

Shikamaru watched as the sand ninja hit the dirt. "You paid more attention to Kiba's impressive attack than me dodging your attacks. I'm guessing that you decided to try to help your partner out while thinking that you couldn't be touched."

While on the ground, Tenkuu looked at Shikamaru. "No physical attack should be able to get past my wind," he stated.

"That wind you used was strong. Your logic seems true but maybe you should rethink it." Shikamaru scratched the back of his head and released his technique. "Your wind can't blow away a shadow." His shadow pulled out of his enemy's legs and retreated. He walked over to the fallen ninja and looked down at him. "It's over."

"Yes, it is over!" Tenkuu yelled. He quickly jumped onto his feet and slashed at Shikamaru with a kunai. The shadow user was barely able to dodge.

'_Even with wounds in his leg he can still stand?'_ Shikamaru asked himself. Tenkuu slashed at him again and he jumped back to dodge.

"Take this!" Before Shikamaru could land to move again, the sand ninja tossed his kunai and it stabbed him in the chest. Shikamaru couldn't do anything as he fell onto the ground. "Got him."

Kiba stopped his spinning attack and looked over at his fallen teammate. Shikamaru!"

"Tenkuu!" Rikujou yelled as he landed next to him. "Good job. Let's take care on this one now." Both sand ninja looked and saw Kiba running at them clenching his fists.

"You're gonna pay!" Kiba yelled.

Both sand ninja equipped a kunai and dashed at Kiba. The two sides ran at each other without hesitation. When they were inches apart, the sand nin prepared to lunge and Kiba prepared to punch. Before any hit could land, the three stopped dead in their tracks.

Shock and confusion washed over the sand shinobi. They both tried to move but their bodies weren't responding. They noticed a smirk growing on Kiba's face.

"What did you do!" Tenkuu yelled.

"Why don't you try looking down," Kiba responded. Both sand nin obeyed and were shocked to see the shadow coming from Kiba and attaching to them.

"No way!" Rikujou yelled. "There's no way you and your partner can both use this jutsu!"

"Then why don't you try looking back here."

Both sand ninja followed the voice and could see Shikamaru far back leaning against a tree.

"But...how?" Tenkuu said slowly. His eyes looked over to where he thought Shikamaru was but all he saw was a kunai stuck in the center of a log.

Shikamaru walked forward towards the other ninja. The two sand ninja involuntarily walked forward and the shadow that was attached to Kiba vanished.

"Looks like the plan worked," Shikamaru said while looking at his enemies.

Tenkuu gave him a very small smile. "You were using your teammate as a decoy the entire time."

"That's right," Shikamaru responded. "When you used your kunai and struck my substitution, I fell back and attached my shadow to Kiba. I controlled him and ran at you two clenching my fists, provoking you to charge at him. When you were close enough, I extended the shadow and bound you two along with Kiba."

"And the trap worked like a charm," Kiba said with a laugh. Akamaru barked happily beside him.

For a second, Tenkuu admired the clever plan. Rikujou, however, wasn't in an admirable mood. "So what now? You gonna kill us both?"

"No," Kiba said. "But thanks to you, now we can ask a few questions." He said that while holding up a bundle of wire. Rikujou growled and Shikamaru gave Kiba a wondering glance. "When me and Akamaru used our combination attack, he dropped this when he dodged," he said with a smile.

A few moments later, both sand ninja had their hands tied together with the wire. Along with that, both of their bodies were tied to one tree. Rikujou stared up at the leaf ninja with malice. Tenkuu was staring at the ground, avoiding the Konoha ninja's gazes.

Shikamaru sighed as he walked up to the two sand shinobi with Kiba and Akamaru beside him. "Now, we need some answers."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N: Unfamiliar jutsus

Doton: Fo-Kasu Dangan no Jutsu = Earth Style: Focused Bullets Jutsu

Fuuton: Kaze Enchou no Jutsu = Wind Style: Wind Dome Jutsu

Kage Mane no Jutsu = Shadow Imitation Jutsu

Kage Kubi Shibari no Justu = Shadow Neck Bind Jutsu

Fuuton: Tatsumaki Soujuu no Jutsu = Wind Style: Tornado Manipulation Jutsu

Doton: Doro Nigiri no Jutsu = Earth Style: Mud Grip Jutsu

Tensouga = Dual Sky Fang


	9. Continuing The Mission

Chapter 9

Continuing The Mission

The trees shook as the shinobi dashed through the forest. They soared through the air quickly and showed no signs of stopping. They've been running for over an hour but their situation hasn't gotten much better. The intense traveling even caused one of their headbands to fly off and fall to the ground. The group had to continue despite the rock village forehead protector hitting the forest floor. They had to keep going...or they would never escape.

The leader of the group of three clenched his teeth as he looked back at his teammates. "Are they still following us?"

"Yes, I think they are," one of the ninja replied.

"Dammit," the other ninja swore while slamming his fist into a tree as he jumped by. "We should turn and fight!"

"No, we are no match for them."

"You're just afraid!"

"Hey, you were the one that got us caught in the first place! Nearly a year of planning gone straight down the tubes!"

"Enough!" the leader of the trio ordered. "I have the documents with me. I want us all to split up. Once we elude our attackers, we will regroup at our designated location. Understood?"

"Yes,sir!" both men yelled.

When the ninja reached their next tree branch, they each jumped off into a different direction. They each continued to travel quickly in order to shake off their pursuers.

One of the ninjas growled when he found out that he was being followed again. He stopped on his next tree branch and hid behind a tree. He suppressed his chakra as much as he could to prevent detection. He smirked when he sensed his enemy fly right past him.

"That was too easy," he whispered to himself with a smile on his face. He was prepared to jump from the tree and head to his team's meeting spot but something was holding his feet down. He tried his best to move but couldn't remove his feet from the tree. Finally, he looked down. "What the hell!" Hundreds of tiny bugs were crawling around his feet.

"It looks like I have been underestimated." The rock village ninja turned his head to see his enemy standing on the same tree branch as him. Before he could utter a single word, the enemy ninja held out his hand towards him. Instantly, the rock ninja was covered from head to toe with crawling insects. "Kikaichuu no Jutsu."

The ninja just watched as his target collapsed. He reached up into his dark hood and touched a small device by his mouth. "This is Shino reporting," he said into the communication device. "My enemy has been captured."

A long distance away, the other rock ninja was still jumping through the forest. He paused for a short moment when his senses lost his friend. '_Did he get himself killed already?' _ He sighed as he jumped onto another branch. That's when he sensed the enemy that was following him. He slowly reached down into his weapons holster. "Over there!" He spun around and flung his kunai through the trees. Immediately afterwards, he heard a loud groan. He jumped onto the ground with a smile on his face. He was shocked to see a log fall from the trees with his kunai stuck in it.

"What the..." His statement was cut off when he yelled from intense pain. Two giant hands grabbed his sides and were squeezing the life out of him. He could feel his bones breaking. Blood escaped from his mouth and the pain became overwhelming. He finally passed out when the pain became too much to handle. The giant hands released him and reverted back to their normal sizes. The ninja walked forward and looked down at his prey. He could easily see the blood on the ground next to his enemies crushed body.

"Maybe I overdid it," he said to himself quietly, though he quickly dismissed the thought. He reached for his radio to give his message. "This is Choji. My enemy has been captured too."

The leader of the rock village group sighed as he jumped from tree to tree. '_Those idiots. They got themselves captured already. Oh well. I have the stolen documents and I'm almost at the country border. My mission is almost complete.'_

"Hakke Kuushou."

The rock leader jumped from another tree branch, however, before he could begin his descent to the next branch, he was hit by a powerful blast in his back. His arms and legs flew back as his body flew forward. Unable to react, he collided head on with the tree in front of him. He coughed up a small amount of blood and fell to the ground. The attack took him by surprise but he wasn't about to let another ninja take his life. He sat up and jumped onto his feet as fast as he could.

"Don't move," came a voice from behind him.

The rock ninja quickly spun around counter-clockwise, ready to slam the back of his left fist into his opponents head. He smirked for a second after his fist hit his enemy, but the smirk vanished when he noticed that it did no damage. It seemed like his enemy was emitting chakra from his cheek. The chakra effectively blocked the strike.

"Juuken!" The ninja pushed away the rock ninja's fist and forced his right palm into his opponents chest. He forced his chakra into his enemy's body and targeted his chakra points. More blood escaped from the rock ninja as his body fell to the ground. The ninja looked down at his enemy before grabbing his communication device. "This is Neji. Good work you two. My enemy has been captured as well."

He heard Shino's voice through the device. "My bugs have searched my enemy. He does not have the stolen documents."

"Yeah I searched my enemy and he doesn't have them either," Choji said next. "What about you, Neji?"

Neji was already one step ahead. With his byakugan already engaged, he looked over his enemy's body. He could see the papers rolled up together under the ninja's clothes. "Yes, my enemy has the documents with him. Now all that's left is to return them to the feudal lord and then..."

"Our mission is complete?" Shino asked.

"Yes," Neji replied.

"Then we can go back to Konoha!" Choji cried joyfully. "We've been on this mission for so long. Finally, we get to return." Though they didn't respond, both Neji and Shino were equally excited about finally returning to their home.

"Okay," Neji said as he began to take charge. "Now we must take the documents and the enemies back to the feudal lord palace. Make sure they are immobilized. Choji, I saw what you did with my byakugan." He laughed lightly. "Make sure you don't kill your opponent and transport them carefully. We will need him alive for questioning."

"Hey, I didn't mean to hurt him that bad," Choji said defensively. After all, he only wanted to subdue his opponent, not cripple him for life.

Neji chuckled again. "Alright then. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can return to the village. Lets move."

"Yes, sir," both Shino and Choji responded to their team leader.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Why did you attack us?"

"... ... ..."

"What were your orders?"

"... ... ..."

"Who ordered you?"

"... ... ..."

"Answer our questions, dammit!"

The two sand ninja refused speak. Kiba began to walk around to help his anger. This whole interrogation was going nowhere. Shikamaru stayed crouched down, staring at his enemies thoughtfully. Rikujou was staring straight into the lazy chunin's eyes, his stare full of anger. Tenkuu was still just looking down at the ground.

"We're not going to stay here all day and wait for you to answer us!" Kiba yelled angrily. Then, he began cracking his knuckles. "I wonder how much punishment its going to take for you two to talk."

"Bring it on, dog boy," Rikujou taunted fearlessly.

"Fine then," Kiba said as he walked towards him. Shikamaru never stopped staring at his opponents. He just held out his hand to stop Kiba. The dog-nin clenched his teeth before walking around again.

"That's what I thought, sissy," Rikujou said with a smirk. It took all of Kiba's willpower to ignore the comment.

"You two are excellent shinobi," Shikamaru said suddenly. He stood up and began walking around the tree that the two sand ninja were tied to. "Never releasing information even when taken captive. A basic yet important shinobi tactic. Too bad when you were ordered to attack the innocent and your intentions of right and wrong are flipped, you two refuse to realize it. Though that doesn't surprise me much. Heartless ninja like you two care little about right and wrong. You destroy whatever is required and you care very little about your teammates and allies. You only care about the mission."

"You don't know anything! I am the furthest thing from heartless!"

Shikamaru stopped circling his captives and looked at Tenkuu. "Is that so. That doesn't seem accurate seeing as how you attacked us, your allies, without any kind of hesitation."

Tenkuu was staring angrily into Shikamaru's eyes now. "What do you know? How do you know if I hesitated or not? Even though they were orders, do you think it is easy to attack an ally? You don't know anything!"

"Tenkuu! Don't respond to him," his partner Rikujou ordered.

Shikamaru crouched down to Tenkuu's level and returned his stare. "I don't know anything? That's untrue. I know that Konoha has done nothing to cause Suna to attack us. I know that me and my comrade are innocent, but you still attacked."

"It's not my fault! They were orders! I was just following..." Tenkuu sighed and turned away. His anger diminished and he began staring at the ground again.

"Tenkuu! Don't tell him anything else. Keep your mouth..." Rikujou couldn't finish talking before he was punched right in the jaw. He spit out blood and looked up. Kiba was standing in front of him with his fists clenched.

"I suggest you keep your mouth shut!" Kiba said menacingly.

Shikamaru was still looking at Tenkuu. The sand ninja refused to meet his gaze. "What were your orders?" the shadow-nin asked calmly. "Why follow them if you were against the whole thing?"

Tenkuu continued to look at the ground. "We were ordered to kill the two leaf ninja that were traveling to the sand village. I knew Konoha was still our allies. I kept asking why we had to kill you but I received no answer. Finally, we were told that Konoha wanted to destroy the sand village. We were told that you two were sent to assassinate the Kazekage."

"And you believed that?"

"No, I didn't. I didn't think that Konoha would want to destroy us, or that they were sending you two to kill our leader. I only agreed because..."

"They were orders," Shikamaru finished.

Tenkuu had a sorrowful look on his face. "Yeah."

Shikamaru sighed. Sure this guy was a ninja. His job is to kill and deceive others. By looking into his face and judging his words, Shikamaru couldn't find anything deceptive. He believed him. "Who gave you your orders," he asked finally.

"Damn it, Tenkuu! You can't betray us! Don't tell him any..." Rikujou was silenced again by Kiba's fist.

"Did the Kazekage order you to do this?" the lazy chunin asked.

"No," Tenkuu finally responded. "The Kazekage had been gone for a while for personal reasons. He has someone that he trusts giving out missions."

"Who?"

Tenkuu sighed. He moved his head and looked up into Shikamaru's eyes. "It...it was his older sister, Temari-sama."

Even though his face showed only seriousness, his insides were churning. '_Temari.'_ He stood up and turned away from Tenkuu. "Thanks," he muttered.

Kiba saw that Shikamaru was upset. Even he knew about him and Temari's close friendship. He walked over and patted his friend on the shoulder. "We should go. We've got no time to waste."

"Aren't you going to release us?" Rikujou yelled from behind them. "We gave you your information."

Kiba turned with an angry look. "I don't remember you telling us any information!" he said while glaring at him. Akamaru growled at the sand ninja before moving to Kiba's side. The Konoha group then began to walk away, in the direction of the sand village. Shikamaru stopped when he heard Tenkuu's quiet voice behind him.

"I don't like to hurt my comrades. I was only obeying orders. It's hard to follow your heart and keep your morals when orders goes against them?"

Shikamaru didn't turn around when he spoke. "If you don't follow orders then you go against the vow you made to your village and your leader. It takes a good shinobi to follow all their orders and protect their vow...however, it takes a great ninja to know which orders to follow and which ones to break and when to follow their heart. We must leave you two here and continue our mission. Also, I have to admit, you are a great ninja, Tenkuu."

With that speech done, Kiba and Akamaru jumped off into the trees and Shikamaru followed. They continued their travel to the sand village in silence. Shikamaru's head was filled with thoughts, some good and some bad. It hurt when he realized that those bad thoughts were the only logical and apparent ideas. Just like Tenkuu, he knew that soon his heart would have to make a decision that his brain could never make. All the thoughts and decisions revolved around the troublesome sand kunoichi. '_Temari, what the hell are you doing?'_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

It was now silent. There were no more voices, no more cries, and thankfully no more tears. Too bad the absence of tears did not mean the absence of sorrow. There was absolutely no joy. Only sorrow and pain were evident. You would think that she was used to these feelings by now...but she's not. Everytime they consume her they feel new. They hurt the first time she felt them...and they still hurt now.

She threw the empty container onto the ground next to her. She looked down at her work. There was enough medicine to cover all of his wounds. Even with the medicine, she was still frightened. He was breathing, but his body wouldn't move an inch. She nearly cried again when she looked into his face. He looked so gentle and fragile. The look on his face when he was struck never left her mind either. He was in so much pain. Just who was it that caused him to go through that much pain? It was her.

'_Why...why did this have to happen?'_ She did it again. She used the medicine that she hoped she would never have to use. Why did she use it? Because she was weak. Too weak to protect the one she loves. Not only was she not able to protect him, but thanks to her feelings, she was the one that caused him to be attacked. She was going through the worst feelings imaginable. Guilt. Sorrow. Fear. She wasn't happy, and she feared that she never will be.

After several minutes of thinking, Hinata was able to stand. With everything that happened, with all of her negative feelings, she did the only thing she could do at this point. She pushed through all the pain. With her byakugan active, she observed her surrroundings. They were indeed deep underground. The only possible route would be to go down the tunnel. With her byakugan, she would be able to see any traps before they could harm her. Sitting here would get them nowhere. She decided that going down the path would be the best possible course of action.

She walked over to Naruto who was laying on his chest. He couldn't lay on his back with those wounds. She pulled down his shirt and jasket to cover his back and tried to lift him up. After struggling for a bit, she was able to get him on her back. He was taller than her so his feet would drag against the ground. Sure he was heavy, but she had to deal with it. Staying in one spot in an area familiar to the enemy was too dangerous. She had to take her chances and trust her byakugan to lead her. She began to carry/drag the unconscious Naruto down the tunnel.

After a few minutes of travel it was still silent. The only light sound that could be heard was Naruto's sandals dragging on the ground. Hinata pushed forward and sensed no traps. She continued to move down the tunnel. Finally, an impulse caused her to break the silence.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." She had wanted to say that for a while now. She knew that he couldn't hear her and that she would have to tell him again when he awakens, but for now she just needed to vent her thoughts. "Its my fault that you're like this. I always seem to cause you pain. If only I were strong like you. You always have to protect me...and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just hope...that soon I will be able to protect you. Soon...I will be able to show my strength."

When she finished, her byakugan detected something. Instead of a narrow tunnel, ahead was a room. From the room she could see the tunnel branch off into three different paths. _'That can't be good.'_ She carried Naruto forward until she was finally in the room. It was pretty big, but nothing special. The only thing that concerned her was the three paths that were in front of her.

"Which tunnel to take? Decisions. Decisions."

Hinata's head jerked up and scanned the room. She wasn't pleased to see a small intercom in the corner of the room.

"So, you finally made it this far. How is your precious little Naruto-kun?"

Hinata ignored him. Instead, she was using her byakugan to check out the three tunnels. Sadly, they were each too long for her byakugan to see the end. She took a breath as she thought. '_Naruto is still hurt and splitting up would be a bad idea anyway. We have to take one of the paths, so everything is up to chance. I guess...we have no choice but to just choose one.'_ While clutching onto Naruto, she began walking down the middle path.

"Hold on, don't you want to know what each tunnel represents?"

Hinata stopped. Now she was curious to what her enemy was saying. "What do you mean?"

A laugh could be heard through the intercom. "Why don't you look up."

Reluctantly, Hinata obeyed. She looked up at the ceiling. It was small, but she could see something there. She was surprised when she was able to read it. _'M-My name?'_ She could see 'Hyuga Hinata' scribbled on the ceiling. Instantly, she got a bad feeling. She walked over to the right tunnel and looked up. 'Uzumaki Naruto' was written. Then, she walked to the left tunnel and looked to see what was on the ceiling. She became even more puzzled when she read 'Haruno Sakura'.

"W-What is this?" she asked.

Koga's laugh filled the room again. "Shall I explain? There are three paths and three names. The middle path represents you, the right path represents Naruto, and the left path represents Miss Sakura. Whoever's path is taken will be spared from certain doom. Whoever's path isn't taken...well I can't promise that they will live to see tomorrow. There are two of you and three paths to take. Choose who lives and choose who dies. It's that simple."

Hinata's heart quickened its beating as she listened. No way. Choose who lives and choose who dies? She could never do that. Her heart suddenly calmed when an idea hit her. It was their only chance. She turned and looked over at the intercom. "I suppose Sakura doesn't even know that you are trusting us with her life."

"No, but just because she doesn't know doesn't mean she isn't being targeted."

Hinata turned back to the tunnels. She knew that was the case. She began looking down the left path. Her eyes shone with determination. "We will take Sakura's path. She doesn't know about any of this so she must be spared. Me and Naruto-kun will go. That way, you must target both of us. Together, I know that we can survive anything that you throw at us."

"Oh is that so, Hinata." He said her name with as much condescendence and malice as he could. Hinata, though, was unaffected.

"Yes. Together, me and Naruto-kun can survive." With that comment in mind, she began walking down Sakura's tunnel.

"No."

The voice startled her. It was so close to her ear. The weight that was on her back suddenly disappeared. She quickly spun around and saw Naruto standing. She was instantly feeling relieved.

"Naruto-kun....you're okay."

He flashed her a quick smile, but then the pain from his back began to get to him. Hinata saw him grimace and tried to help but Naruto held out his hand to stop her. She looked up into his eyes worriedly. He returned her gaze with a serious look before speaking.

"I will go down Sakura-chan's path. You...I want you to go down your own path."

Hinata looked horrified. "But Naruto-kun, that means..."

He cut her off. "Sakura needs to be protected because she doesn't know what's going on. And you....I can't let anything happen to you."

Hinata would be happy that Naruto showed that he cared about her, but not when he was directly putting himself in danger like this. "But...Naruto-kun..." She paused.

"I will be happy as long as you and Sakura are okay. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He gave her his signature promising smile.

Hinata stared into his eyes. His plan was stupid. His plan was beyond stupid. All he wanted was to sacrifice himself to protect everyone else. She was sure that he knew that as well...but...how could he smile like that? How could he give her that genuine comforting smile that told her everything was going to be alright? She was confused on what to do, until she thought of his words again. "Promise?" she asked.

"I promise," he said to her.

After hearing his words, she walked over to the middle tunnel. Naruto took one final look at her before walking down Sakura's path. He walked like he was okay, but that was because he was good at masking the pain. Hinata waited until he was gone before she walked down her path.

A few moments passed while she walked slowly. She could feel herself walking slower and slower as time moved on. It was her brain trying to tell her something. Finally, she came to a complete halt. She couldn't do this. Knowing that Naruto could be attacked at any moment frightened her. She had to do something. She quickly remembered Naruto's promise. She vividly recalled the smile on his face and the sound of his words. '_Naruto-kun,'_ she thought. _'You're such a good liar.'_

She turned around and ran as fast as she could. She wasn't going to let this happen. Finally, she made it back into the large room with the three paths.

"You again?" came Koga's voice. "Oh let me guess. You are going to follow Naruto and support him. How romantic."

Once again, Hinata ignored him. Turning to her side, she looked down the right path before running at full speed. She dashed down Naruo's path with determination in her eyes. Now she was the one that would be targeted, but she didn't care. Now she had to show what she was made of. '_Now...now I will be the one to protect you, Naruto-kun.'_

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-  
A/N: Unfamiliar Jutsu:

Kikaichuu no Jutsu - Destruction Bug Technique  
Hakke Kuushou - Eight Trigrams Air Palm  
Juuken - Gental Fist


	10. Two Souls, One Fate?

Chapter 10

Two Souls, One Fate?

Naruto continued moving down the tunnel that represented his longest female teammate. He noticed that his pace was slowly increasing as time went past. The pain was slowly leaving him. He tried ignoring all those facts, especially because he knew the beast that was behind them. Even though the Kyubi healed his injuries, Naruto couldn't help but feel hatred towards it. Sure the Kyubi _could_ be his greatest weapon, but it will _always_ be his greatest enemy.

Ignoring his restored health, he kept walking. Finally, he noticed an opening, which meant the tunnel would lead him into another room. He kept moving and entered the large room. The room was big with nothing but lanterns on the walls. There was no door on the other side. As Naruto entered the room, he only focused on what was in the center of the room.

"Dead end huh? Looks like there's nowhere to run now."

"Oh? Were you thinking about running?"

"I was talking about you," Naruto said as he gave Koga a threatening glare. "Now we have no choice but to finish this."

Koga smiled at his enemy. "Wow, you're taking this trap very well."

"Well what do you….wait what? Trap?"

Koga reached into his pouch and threw out two kunai in Naruto's direction. The blonde quickly prepared for the attack, but the weapons flew right past him on both sides. His eyes widened and he performed a quick 180 degree turn. That's when he recognized the two paper bombs attached to each side of the door about to be struck. He turned around and jumped just when the two explosions were set off. The entire room began to shake and boulders crashed to the ground from the ceiling. Naruto made sure not to get hit, but now he was in a very bad situation. He looked at the doorway that was now blocked by the falling rocks. He grunted and then turned back to Koga.

"So, that was the trap. I bet this whole tunnel representation thing was just a lie. You just wanted to separate me from Hinata."

"It's funny when the good guy figures out the bad guy's plan after he's already caught in the trap."

"I bet you already have a trap set up for Hinata right?" Naruto yelled.

Koga chuckled. "Perhaps. What's with all this talking? This is what you wanted, a one on one battle with me. Don't complain, be happy."

Naruto growled. He began walking over towards Koga while cracking his knuckles. "I'm gonna kick your ass."

"Maybe, maybe not." Koga began moving forward as well. "So, Uzumaki Naruto, shall we begin?"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Hinata stopped her movements when she heard the loud noise from down the tunnel. She struggled to keep her balance as the tunnel shook. She had her byakugan engaged but couldn't find the source of the explosion. Instead, she found a more important matter to deal with. Her tunnel continued to shake and it had begun to collapse. The path behind her was already blocked by falling rocks.

"Oh no!" With no other choice, she ran full speed down the path, dodging falling rocks as she went. It took a while, but finally she could see the end of the tunnel further down. She had no time to waste. She darted down the tunnel as fast as she could. She made it out and entered a large room just in time to avoid the collapsing labyrinth.

"Oh…no," she said again, this time slower. In her frantic attempt to avoid the falling rocks, she didn't have enough time to scan the room that she entered and was now trapped in. The first thing that caught her eye was the hundreds of explosive tags that were attached to the ceiling. A few seconds of byakugan examining proved that they were all real. Nothing seemed to go her way ever since she arrived in this underground dungeon.

Hinata hesitantly took a few steps forward. Besides the paper bombs, she saw an orb in the middle of the room. Under it she could see another intercom and, unfortunately for her, a folded up piece of paper which she knew was another riddle. She slowly approached the items in the middle of the room. As she got closer, she could see something happening in the orb. It was weird; it looked like it was showing her something. When she was standing right over it, she was shocked at what she saw.

Koga had just punched Naruto in the jaw. Naruto threw a punch but missed, resulting in a kick in his back. Hinata was shocked as she watched blow after blow inside the orb. It was like a crystal ball, showing her everything that was going on with Naruto's battle.

"Naruto-kun." It took a lot to push the thought of her crush being hurt out of her mind, but eventually, she was able to. She decided to move the orb to get to the riddle. When she was able to pick up the riddle, she was startled yet again. First she had video, now she had audio. Every grunt, word, or scream that came from the fight could be heard through the intercom. Hinata saw this as one last ray of hope.

"Naruto-kun!" she yelled. She winced slightly when she saw Naruto get hit again through the crystal ball. Her voice didn't seem to reach him. She yelled again but got no response. She assumed that only she could hear them and not the other way around. Things were just getting worse and worse.

Locked in a booby trapped room and forced to hear and watch her love's battle. Hinata wasn't enjoying this one bit. Finally, she decided to open the riddle and see what her cruel captor had in store.

**Hinata,**

**I hope you've had fun so far.**

**Now,**

**I think its time to raise the bar.**

**Whether you live or die,**

**It's his call.**

**You're penalized,**

**Whenever you see your beloved fall.**

**Five hits to the ground**

**Will seal your fate.**

**You can't escape,**

**For it is already too late.**

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Naruto's fist slammed into Koga's palm. Koga swung Naruto's fist aside and punched him hard in the chest. Naruto took an involuntary step back but wasn't about to give up. He yanked his fist free and aimed a kick at Koga's gut. His enemy saw it coming and grabbed his foot with both hands. As soon as his kick was blocked, Naruto tossed a kunai at Koga's head. Koga's eyes caught onto the attack just in time. He ducked and swung Naruto's leg around, knocking him to the floor.

Koga looked down at his enemy on the ground. "You shouldn't have any weapons with you. That was one of the kunai I used to cause the explosion. It almost didn't see it coming. Very clever. Looks like _ONCE _again, I'm one step ahead of you."

In the other room, Hinata couldn't help but tense up. _'Why did he say it like that?'_

Naruto jumped to his feet and prepared for another round. "That's what you think!" He ran and aimed a punch at Koga's head. With both hands, Koga grabbed his fist and threw it towards the ground on the side of him. Naruto fell forward and hit the ground. He tried to recover and give a sweep kick but Koga jumped a few feet away just in time to dodge. Naruto grunted before getting back on his feet.

Koga smirked. "Down for the _SECOND_ time. That can't be good."

Hinata clenched her teeth. _'So that is what he meant! The riddle said if he hits the ground five times. He's saying that to me. Naruto-kun has already fallen twice, so if he falls three more times....I have to find a way out before this gets any worse.'_

Naruto wiped some dirt from his face before staring at Koga again. "This isn't over." He crossed his fingers to perform his favorite jutsu. "Not by a long shot! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three clones emerged from puffs of smoke, leaving four Narutos in total. "I call this the Naruto Storm Barrage. Prepare yourself!"

"Hmm, this should be good. Bring it on."

"Alright!" all of the Narutos yelled. They all ran at their enemy, jumping around until he was cornered from all four directions. Koga looked all around him and prepared for battle.

Koga grabbed the fist of one Naruto and pushed it aside. With his free hand, he pulled out a kunai and slashed the arm of another clone. He spun around on the ball of his foot to dodge a kick. In one motion, he slashed the neck of another clone. He stopped his spinning in time to grab another clone's fist. He twisted it before throwing the clone to the ground. After disappearing from puffs of smoke, Koga barely noticed the last Naruto running at him. Before the fist could collide with his face, Koga jumped to the side to dodge the attack.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto quickly flung a kunai in Koga's direction. The enemy jumped into the air to evade the weapon. "I'm not done!" Naruto announced. When he felt the presence, Koga turned his attention to the speeding kunai. He was shocked when it was covered with smoke, revealing another Naruto with two kunai in his hands. Since he was still in the air, there was no place he could run.

"Eat this!" Naruto threw both kunai at the airborne Koga.

"You think you've got me?!" With the kunai in his hand, Koga deflected the two weapons. Both weapons were deflected upward but before they could hit the ceiling, they too were covered in smoke. Two Narutos emerged, both kicking Koga in his back.

'_More clones?'_ he thought. Koga was sent flying downward. He clenched his teeth when he focused on what was waiting for him on the ground. Two more Narutos stood there with a large blue ball of swirling chakra in their hands. _'I can't dodge that!'_ Koga was barely able to put his hands together and form a seal before the ball was pushed into his body.

"Oodama Rasengan!"

Hinata watched through the crystal ball as blue chakra was flowing in all directions. She could barely see anything anymore. She smiled at Naruto's latest move. She wanted to cheer, but she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her. _'You got him, Naruto-kun.'_

Naruto was breathing heavily after the attack. His remaining clones had already disappeared in puffs of smoke. Naruto stood there waiting for the dust to clear so he could see his opponent. A confused look spread over his face when the dust revealed something. As the dust cleared, more and more of it was uncovered. _'Are those…feathers?'_

"Damn it!" Koga yelled through the dust. When all of it was gone, Naruto stared wide-eyed at his enemy. Koga stood there breathing heavily with two large deformed objects coming from his back.

"Are those…wings?" Naruto asked.

"As if the feather doesn't already tell you that." Koga replied.

"You have wings? You can fly?" Naruto asked still a little confused.

"Stop with the stupid questions." Koga said sternly. The two wings on his back then puffed away in a puff of smoke. "I hate using wings to block an attack. They get the job done but it still hurts like hell!" He took a breath to calm down before he continued. "I guess I should explain to you now…about my kekkei genkai."

Naruto dropped the confused look and put up his guard. "You have a kekkei genkai?"

"It's called Ikimono Kasei. With this I can change my body to that of an animal. Eventually, I learned how to control what transforms. For example," he smiled while forming a hand sign. "Wings of an eagle!" Instantly, two large eagle wings emerged from his back. Naruto stared in shock. The wings began to flap and Koga hovered in the air. "Oh, how about the paw of a tiger." He held out his right hand watched as it began to shake and transform. Finally, the human hand was gone and a tiger paw was in its place.

As Naruto stared at the sharp claws on the paw, he instinctually touched his cheek with his hand. "That's what hit me in that field and gave me those cuts on my cheek."

"I'm glad you remembered. I wonder how you feel about this. What if my arm was the body of a snake?" Koga held out his left arm and that too began to transform. In the end, his arm was a loose and flexible as a snake. His left hand was gone and the head of a snake took its place.

Naruto watched in disgust as the snake stuck its tongue out. It reminded him too much of someone he didn't want to think about.

"What do you think now, Uzumaki Naruto? Defeating me is one thing, but do you think you can defeat the entire animal kingdom?!" Without warning, Koga flew at Naruto at full speed.

"Damn it!" Naruto jumped high into the air to dodge the speeding Koga and the snake hand that nearly bit his foot.

"You jumped into the air? Bad move!" Koga changed directions and flew at Naruto. He was unable to react to the speed. Koga's tiger paw slammed into Naruto's chest. The blow knocked the wind right out of him. With blood on all four of his tiger claws, Koga pushed forward, sending Naruto flying back and into the wall. More blood came from his mouth as he fell to the ground. Koga laughed as he looked down at his prey. "That's the _THIRD _time. C'mon, you can put up a better fight than that!"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Unfamiliar Jutsu: Ikimono Kasei – Animal Metamorphosis

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Don't kill me! How long has it been…a month? Oh well. This story WILL NOT be discontinued. I will try to update within my usual two weeks but I can't promise anything. Just bear with me and keep the reviews coming and I will definitely keep on writing.


	11. Reunion

Chapter 11

Reunion

"After all that time…."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

They both stared at the final obstacle in their path. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't see the end. There was only sand, sand, and more sand. Deep down, they probably preferred traveling in the forest instead of the long dry desert. Oh well…it had to be done.

"Let's go," Kiba said as he took off into the desert. Akamaru was already running along side him.

"Yeah." Shikamaru ran behind his friend. Finally, it seemed like they were getting closer to the sand village. Even after hours of nonstop traveling, they still pushed forward. With their goal now so close, there was no way they would rest.

A small smile graced Kiba's features. "Hey Shikamaru."

"Yeah?"

"How do you think Hinata and Naruto are doing?"

Shikamaru sighed. That question had crossed his mind every now and then. "I have no idea. All we can do is hope."

"I think they're okay. What about you, Akamaru?" His ninja dog barked happily beside him.

Shikamaru chuckled. "Well, Hinata is a little too timid and Naruto, or course, can be a real troublesome guy."

Kiba couldn't help but laugh. "That's true."

"On the other hand, Hinata can be hard working when she's determined, and even though he's an idiot, Naruto doesn't give up."

"That's also true," Kiba said with a smirk. "To me, it sounds like we don't have anything to worry about."

"Yeah, we just have to hurry and get to the sand village."

"We're already in the desert; it should be smooth sailing from here."

"When is it ever smooth sailing for us?" Shikamaru wasn't normally a negative guy, but after things that happened recently, he wasn't in a very positive mood.

"Oh c'mon, what could possi…bly…" He stopped mid-sentence. Both him and Shikamaru's running slowed down to a walk and then to a complete stop. Both were staring wide-eyed in front of them. "Aww give me a break!"

"Why did you have to say that?" Shikamaru asked annoyed.

They both stared at the large mass in front of them. A giant wave of sand was speeding towards them. It looked big enough to drown half of Konoha in the earth's essence. There was no way the Konoha shinobi could avoid it.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The giant wave crashed down, shaking the entire desert. Sand washed over sand as the massive amount slowly merged back into the desert floor. Despite the powerful tremors, one man stood resolute. He checked over his work, his arms folded, his face only showing a very serious expression. _'It's not enough. After that day, my full power still hasn't returned.'_ He unfolded his arms and spaced his feet apart. He clapped his hands together and focused on his target. _'One more time.'_

Hand signs were quickly formed. The sand in front of his feet began to stir. It flowed to both sides and began to rise up. The seals continued until they were ended with his hands clapped together again. "Ryuusa Bakuryu." A tidal wave was formed completely out of sand. The ground even shook under the massive weight. Gaara watched as the sand wave advanced. Suddenly, his senses picked up on the unfamiliar charka. "An enemy."

Gaara felt something moving through the sand. He held out one hand and aimed at one point of the sand tsunami. What looked like a flying tornado came shooting out of the wave, but sand was already there to meet it. "Sabaku Kyuu!" The sand wrapped around the tornado and held it in the air. "Sabaku…" before he could perform the finishing blow, two tornadoes broke free from the sand coffin..

Gaara clenched his teeth. He looked from one tornado to the other and held out his hands, one aiming at each.

"Wait, Gaara!" Both of the tornadoes ceased spinning, revealing a large white dog and a ninja. "We're your allies, from Konoha."

Gaara gave the ninja a questioning stare. "Konoha?" That's when he noticed the leaf symbol on the shinobi's headband.

Both shinobi looked to the side when a large black spike shot up from the ground. From the hole that was created, another ninja crawled out. He rose to his feet and the black spike retreated and returned to the ninja's shadow. "We're here to help, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara stared at the other ninja. _'Nara Shikamaru.'_ With the sand village working on the chunin exams with Konoha, Shikamaru was always the one that the sand's representatives had to work with. Gaara knew a few things about the chunin, including his leadership qualities and excellent analytical mind. "Why are you two here?"

Kiba and Shikamaru both approached the Kazekage. "We're here to answer your distress call," Kiba replied.

Gaara's emotionless face hid his confusion. "Distress call?"

The two leaf ninja were both struck with confusion as well. "You sent a distress call to Konoha, didn't you?" Kiba asked.

"No," Gaara stated simply.

Kiba clenched his teeth and kicked some sand. "Ah! What's going on?! Nothing makes sense anymore."

Shikamaru sighed. He was afraid of this. He had an idea, but he desperately hoped that he was wrong. "Kazekage-sama, may I ask, what are you doing out here in the middle of the desert?"

Gaara stared at the lazy chunin. "I was training. It seems after the demon was stolen from me, I have yet to reach my full power again."

"About how long have you been training out here?"

Gaara continued to stare. This was beginning to feel like an interrogation...and he didn't like it. "Three days."

"Three days?" Kiba repeated.

Shikamaru continued. "If you were out here for three days, then that must mean that there hasn't been much activity going on within the village. Although, even if there hasn't been much activity, someone must be in your office taking care of the unimportant paper work, correct? Someone you can trust."

Gaara's assumptions about Shikamaru's thinking were confirmed. Everything the ninja said was true. "Yes, the Kazekage usually does have to deal with plenty of unimportant documents. I put someone I can trust in charge of it so I could…"

"Someone like family?" Shikamaru interjected. Kiba turned to Shikamaru when he finally understood. Gaara stared at Shikamaru seriously, trying not to give away the fact that that statement was also correct. "You put Temari in charge of the paperwork, didn't you?"

The Kazekage's head slowly nodded. Kiba took a deep breath and looked at Shikamaru, wondering about their next move. Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his head before staring at Gaara once again. "Kazekage-sama, we must get to the sand village as soon as possible."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Naruto jumped back just in time to dodge the snake that almost bit his foot. He leaned against the wall to take a quick breath but in front of him Koga was already speeding towards him. Naruto jumped as high as he could and Koga's tiger claw crashed into the wall.

"You can't get away when you're airborne like that!" Koga rose and targeted Naruto again, his snake arm licking its lips waiting for that first bite. Thinking quickly, Naruto pushed his foot against the wall, charka flowing through his body and concentrating to his feet. Naruto ran full speed on the side of the wall. Koga was flying right behind him.

"Kage Bun…" Koga silenced the leaf ninja when the snake's fangs sunk into Naruto's left leg. Koga swung his snake arm down, yanking Naruto from the wall and throwing him to the ground.

"That's four times now," Koga declared. "Looks like the Hyuga girl is on her last leg." Naruto slowly rose to his feet, blood still oozing from the snake bite. "And this will finish it!" Koga soared toward Naruto with his tiger paw out. Before the blow could connect with Naruto's chest, Naruto grabbed the paw and held it in place.

"It's not over yet," Naruto announced.

Koga pushed with all his strength but Naruto didn't seem to be putting in any effort. He clenched his teeth. _'There was too much force in that. He shouldn't be able to stop this with his bare hand.'_ His snake arm revealed its bloody fangs and struck at Naruto's thigh, but the blonde's other hand grabbed the snake before it could bite. Naruto squeezed the snake's body, causing the snake to scream and Koga to wince from the pain.

"You know all about me, right? Then you should know, I have the strength of a way stronger animal." That's when Koga noticed it: the feral eyes, the broad whiskers, the fangs in his mouth, the sudden stench of foul charka. "Can your animal strength beat mine?" Naruto clenched his right hand, crushing the snake's body and breaking off its head. Snake guts poured out and Koga yelled from the pain, jumping back to a safe distance.

Koga looked down at what was left of his snake arm. It took a lot for him to not scream again. "Revert, dammit! Revert!" His left arm was covered in smoke and then Koga's human arm returned. Koga clenched his teeth harder and stared at Naruto.

"So even though it was a snake you still felt the pain when I crushed it." Naruto smirked.

Koga growled. "Left hand, become a tiger paw!" His left hand transformed and became a tiger paw to match his right. Koga clapped his two paws together. "This is my first time seeing it, the Kyubi chakra. Maybe after this I can better understand why those Akatsuki guys want it so badly. Arms of a gorilla!" Both of Koga's arms grew larger, hairier, and a lot more muscular, matching that of a gorilla. "Show me the power of a jinchuriki."

Koga flew straight at Naruto, ready to strike. Both of Koga's paws connected with Naruto's hands. As soon as the contest of strength began, Naruto took an involuntary step back. He was shocked from Koga's new strength. "These gorilla arms have made me a little bit stronger, don't you think?" Koga caused Naruto to take another step back. Naruto clenched his teeth and tried to push harder but Koga wasn't backing down.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Hinata stared into the mystical ball. It was like she was mesmerized. Naruto and Koga were still pushing, hoping the other would budge first. It took plenty of willpower, but Hinata finally looked away. The condition of Naruto did bug her, but she still needed to find a way out of the booby-trapped room. With only one way to search the room effectively, she quickly activated her bloodline.

With her byakugan, she decided to search the ceiling first. The hundreds of paper tags were still scattered across the ceiling. After searching for a few seconds, she finally noticed something that she hadn't notice before. There was a chakra string connected to one of the tags in the corner. The string seemed to lead outside of the room. Hinata noticed that it led in the direction of the room Naruto was in. _'So that…must be how Koga will set off the bombs.'_

Hinata continued her search with the floor. It only took a moment before she saw another chakra string, this one connected to the intercom implanted in the ground. She bent down closer to the intercom to get a better look. The chakra was definitely linking her room to Naruto's. The chakra was also flowing in one direction, towards her. _'That would explain why I can hear them but they can't hear me.' _After inspecting a little more, an idea finally hit her. With a mighty kick, Hinata knocked the intercom aside and got straight to work.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

After all that time, someone just had to give. With a loud roar, using all his strength, Koga picked Naruto up and threw the ninja over his head. Naruto slammed to the ground and slid for a second or two before coming to a stop. Koga smiled triumphantly, even though he was nearly out of breath. "Well, that's your fifth fall. It's game over for the girl."

Even while out of breath, Naruto slowly rose to his feet to stare his enemy down. "What are you talking about?"

Koga sudden flew to the side and slammed his paw into the wall. Naruto watched in wonder as the wall crumbled, revealing another wall hidden behind it. Attached to that other wall was a single explosive tag. "This is the tag that will end her life. Once this goes, the hundreds of tags that are in her room will go off as well."

"Hundreds of tags?!" That was all that Naruto needed to hear. The leaf ninja dashed straight at Koga but before he could get too close, Koga quickly equipped a kunai and tossed it at the tag. As soon as it was struck, the tag exploded. A second later, the entire room began to shake. The sound of a faraway explosion could be heard.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled as he looked around the room, hoping to find a way out.

"Goodbye, Hyuga," Koga said with a chuckle.

Naruto immediately turned toward Koga and growled menacingly. After a quick seal, a clone popped up beside him and a blue chakra ball was already forming in their hands. He glared at Koga but the other boy returned the favor. Without warning, Naruto turned to the side and ran straight at the wall.

Koga watched, puzzled. "What are you going to…"

Naruto slammed his Rasengan into the wall, blowing away chunks of earth. Koga jumped and hovered in the air to make sure he didn't lose his balance from the room began shaking. He clenched his teeth as Naruto rushed through the newly created hole in the wall. "You won't escape!" Koga quickly flew after the boy.

After a few seconds, Naruto stopped his running as he entered into another large room. If his memory was correct, he was now in the room at the end of Hinata's path. There were only two important things in the room: a doorway that led back into the other tunnels and a hole in the corner of the ceiling. Out of the hole, sunlight shone through.

"Sunlight? So this is the exit." As happy as he was that he found the exit, Naruto still had an unhappy expression. He still needed to find Hinata. After all, she did survive that explosion…right? No, there was no doubt in his mind. She did survive, she had to. Naruto ran towards the wall that separated him and the room that Hinata entered. Before he could create a clone, a tiger paw slammed into his back, its claws sinking into his skin. With one push, Naruto flew forward and crashed into the wall before falling to the ground. Koga hovered a few feet away.

"Our fight isn't over," he said simply. "That girl is gone, so why don't you face me now."

Naruto coughed up blood as he stood up. He stared at Koga while breathing heavily. "I will face you, after I show you that Hinata is still alive."

Koga laughed. "Oh how childish. It seems you can't face the reality of your comrade's death."

Naruto's clenched his fist. "Is that right?! Well, I'll prove to you that…" He was interrupted by a rumbling sound behind him. Naruto slowly turned his head as the sound got louder and louder. A crack appeared in the wall and slowly expanded. Finally, a few rocks were pushed aside and Hinata's head popped through, gasping for air.

Naruto's eyes lit up immediately and Koga eyes grew wide from the shock. "No way! How could you have survived?"

With a few more wiggles, Hinata somehow squeezed her body through the rocks and fell to the floor. Naruto quickly bent down to help her to her feet. "Hinata! Are you okay?" The kunoichi coughed a few times before accepting Naruto's hand and rising to her feet.

"I…I'm fine. Thanks, Naruto-kun."

Koga was still not amused. "Don't ignore my question," he said menacingly.

After dusting a few bits of dirt off of her, Hinata turned her attention toward her enemy. "Once I found a good spot, I was able to dig my way out," she answered.

"You dug through solid stone?" Koga said in disbelief.

Hinata was able to smile a little. "Actually, I was able to escape because of your own tool. The chakra string that was connected to the intercom did the trick." After a few seconds of wondering, Koga's eyes widened again as he realized how she did it. "My gentle fist can force chakra into anything. By knocking your intercom aside, I was able to use the chakra string as a starting point. By forcing my chakra into the ground, with the help of the chakra string, I could break the stone and tunnel through it."

Koga gave her a serious stare. It was clever, he could admit that, but now he wasn't in the mood to give compliments. Naruto, on the other hand, stared at Hinata in amazement. "Whoa, I would have never though you could do that. You really are awesome, Hinata."

She turned away slightly to hide her reddened face. Honestly, as long as it had to do with Naruto, she could blush no matter how serious the situation. "T…Thanks."

"Enough!" The leaf ninja turned and looked at Koga who was still hovering in the air. "I won't let either of you reach that exit!" His anger was evident. This was taking way longer than he thought it would and now the situation had gotten a lot more annoying.

Naruto took a look at Hinata for a brief second. She returned his look with a determined expression before getting into her gentle fist stance. Naruto nodded his head and took a stance of his own, ready to face the enemy.

Koga looked from one leaf ninja to the other, his wings still flapping behind him. Finally, he clapped his tiger paws together before flying full speed at the Konoha ninja.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N: Took a while to write but I think its satisfying enough. Thanks for the awesome reviews and keep them coming!

Unfamiliar Jutsu:

Ryuusa Bakuryu - Sand Tsunami

Sabaku Kyuu - Sand Coffin


	12. So Close Yet So Far

Chapter 12

So Close Yet So Far

For a few moments, the group traveled in silence. The three ninja (and one animal) were side by side moving at top speed through the desert. Kiba sighed. He couldn't stand the silence. He looked to his left at the two ninja running beside him. Gaara still held his serious expression, effectively hiding the anger and confusion. After Shikamaru explained that Temari could possibly be a traitor, Gaara turned toward the sand village without hesitation. He was definitely going to get to the bottom of this.

Kiba already knew how Shikamaru felt about the situation. A friend possibly becoming a traitor? He wasn't too fond of that idea, especially considering the betrayal that occurred three years ago. Not to mention the fact that it was Temari, one of the last people that Shikamaru would ever expect. The lazy chunin wouldn't rest until he dealt with this situation.

Soon, the silence became too much for him to bear. "So…" Kiba started uneasily, "you were out here training all that time? I guess you're still as strong as ever, Kazekage-sama."

"No," Gaara replied quickly. Kiba turned toward the Kage in wonder. "Ever since the demon was taken from me, my strength has weakened. The sand no longer automatically protects me. Also, my control over sand has weakened. A lot more chakra is needed to control it all. My power is no where near where it once was."

Kiba thought about that response for a moment. '_His power has gone down…but he still made that giant wave earlier! I guess it makes since that he's the Kazekage.'_ Kiba disconnected his thoughts when the large walls of the sand village came into view. Gaara increased his speed and Shikamaru and Kiba drafted behind him.

Two guards stood at the entrance to the village. They both stared at the rapidly approaching figures in the distance. "Who are they?" one of them asked.

"I don't know," the other replied. "And I don't think enemies would run at our main entrance."

"Me either." Both of their eyes widened as the approaching ninja became clearer.

"Is that…"

"…the Kazekage?"

They both quickly stood erect and alert. They didn't move an inch until the three ninja ran past them and entered the village's boundaries. After their leader passed, two long breaths of relief were released.

Gaara continued to lead the leaf ninja through the sand village's entrance. "Stay close," he ordered as they entered the streets. They immediately jumped onto buildings and sped toward the Kazekage mansion. Plenty of murmurs filled the streets.

"What's going on?"

"Is that the Kazekage-sama?"

"Are those Konoha ninja?"

"They're heading toward the Kazekage's office!"

The group ignored the words and jumped through one of the building's windows. They ran down the hallway and stopped in front of the Kazekage's office door. After a moment of silence, Gaara reached for the door handle.

"Kazekage-sama." Gaara paused and turned his attention toward Shikamaru. "Would you allow me to enter alone?" Shikamaru looked at Gaara's unchanging expression. "Considering the situation, I think you'll agree that that would be the best way to deal with this situation." Gaara continued to stare at the Konoha ninja for a few moments.

"Five minutes," he stated while stepping aside.

"We'll be right out here," Kiba said with a thumbs up. Akamaru barked happily beside him. Shikamaru looked at his comrades again before opening the door and stepping inside.

When the door closed, he briefly looked around the room before focusing on the Kazekage's desk and the women sitting behind it. She looked up from her work and the surprise on her face was clear. "Well, if it isn't Shikamaru."

A small smirk appeared on Shikamaru's face. "Temari…always a pleasure. Well…usually it is."

Temari raised an eyebrow at that comment but decided to ignore it. She smiled and rose from her seat. "To what do I owe this pleasure? It must take something big to get a lazy guy like you out here in the desert."

"You're right. It did take something big to get me out here. As for your question, I was hoping that you would answer that for me."

"Oh really," Temari said playfully with a smile on her face. "And how would I know why you are here?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk back. "I don't know. You tell me."

She smiled at him while crossing her arms. "What's with this whole mysterious feeling you're trying to give off? Is it possible that you came out here to see me? Or is there a problem?"

This conversation was really starting to irk Shikamaru. It seemed like a normal chat with one of the few women he actually enjoyed talking to, but because of recent complications, he knew he would have to break the friendly tones. "Unfortunately, I think it's both."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Temari slowly began moving from behind the desk.

"I would appreciate it if you don't come any closer."

Temari paused from the blunt and unexpected response. "Where'd that come from? What's wrong with you?" She examined his face. Only a stern and serious expression remained on the chunin's face.

"Perhaps I should skip straight to the questions. What exactly have you been doing ever since you sat down in that chair?" Shikamaru asked.

Now Temari's anger began to show. "Since when did this become an interrogation? What's this about?"

"Maybe you can tell me why two sand ninja were sent to kill me and Kiba? Or why two of my comrades are currently lost somewhere in the forest?" Shikamaru continued in a not-so-nice tone.

Ignoring his earlier warning, Temari stepped from behind the desk and approached the lazy chunin. He never flinched or lessened his intense stare. "Just what are you accusing me of?"

"I'm accusing you of causing all the trouble that has occurred in the past few days." The two ninja fiercely stared each other down. "Are you working with that madman Koga?"

"I have no idea who you are talking about," she replied sternly.

He ignored her response. "Could you two possibly…have anything to do with Akatsuki? It would make since that you captured Naruto for his demon."

"How could you even ask me that?!" Temari's short temper was really flaring up now. "After what happened to Gaara you think I would work with those bastards?!" She turned around and stomped towards the window. She looked out at the village for a second before turning back around. "I don't know what's wrong with you but I don't like you random accusations!"

"Oh I wouldn't call them random!" he yelled back. "I have enough reason to believe that **you** are the one that called us on this fake mission in order to separate us and torture us! I bet you still know where the others are! Just what do you have against the four of us?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about! I have nothing against you nor do I have anything to do with that Naruto brat or his girl being kidnapped. You're just throwing around accusations left and right! You're really starting to piss me off, Shikamaru!"

After that comment, Shikamaru stayed silent for several moments. He took a deep breath before smirking at Temari. "Thanks, that's all I needed to know." He quickly crouched down and put his hands together, forming a seal. His shadow stretched across the ground toward his target. Temari caught on to the attack just before it was too late. He quickly jumped towards the wall, her shadow narrowly avoiding Shikamaru's. She used chakra to cling to the wall and she stared down at the shadow-user.

"What the hell is your problem!" she yelled.

Shikamaru stared at her seriously. "It's weird…for someone who claims not to know anything, you somehow knew that a girl was kidnapped along with Naruto, even though I failed to mention that fact." Temari opened her mouth to contest that deduction but soon found that she had nothing to say. "Your speechlessness only makes you that much more guilty!"

Shikamaru's shadow stretched across the floor once again, aimed at Temari's shadow, however, with one mighty jump, Temari flew back and crashed through the window, littering shards of glass all outside the building. Shikamaru ran towards the window, not about to let her get away. Nearly a second after the sound of broken glass was heard, the door was blown off its hinges and sand spilled into the room. An alert Gaara only caught the sight of Shikamaru jumping through an already broken window. The Kazekage immediately gave chase and the Konoha human-dog duo was right behind him.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The room was silent. The air was tense. The ground was already stained with blood. The ninja stood ready to fight, both sides staring the other down. From black and evil to white and pure plus red and wild; eyes darted from one to another, each filled with determination.

"This…will be the end!" Koga flew straight at Naruto at full speed. The jinchuriki barely dodged and Koga's paw crashed into the wall, his strength enough to break the stone. He yanked his paw out and spun around to counter attack but Hinata's palm connected with his side, disrupting his chakra. Koga quickly recovered from the attack and swung his arm back. The back of his paw was blocked by Hinata and she prepared to strike again. When she struck Koga's side again, he was covered by smoke and a large piece of rock was left behind.

Hinata quickly spun around but Koga's left paw was already only inches away from her face. Naruto grabbed Koga's paw and twisted it to the side as he aimed a punch at the boy's head. Koga smirked as his right paw connected with Naruto's fist. "I thought we've been over this." Koga utilized the power of his gorilla strength to free his left arm from Naruto's grasp. "You are not stronger than me!" Naruto clenched his teeth and swung his right arm at his opponent. Koga ducked under the attack to thrust his left paw into Naruto's chest. His strength sent the leaf ninja flying back until Hinata caught him to lessen the blow. As the Konoha team fell to the ground from the force, Koga flew up into the air.

"Revert!" His left paw transformed back into his normal hand and reached into his weapons holster. He swiftly tossed dozens of small shuriken toward the downed ninja.

Naruto sat up seconds after the attack was launched. As soon as he recognized the shuriken, he noticed Hinata quickly moved in front of him and perform a seal. She visualized the 8 trigram symbol glowing on the ground beneath her. "Shugo Hakke: Rokujuu Yon Sho!" Hinata's movements were quick and precise. A thin line of chakra extended from her palms, cutting everything in their path. Koga blinked a few times as he watched. It looked like her arms had disappeared and all around her only blurred movement could be seen. Naruto looked to his left and his right to see shuriken cut directly in half falling on both sides. Hinata's arms ceased its movements once each and every shuriken was cut down the middle and pushed to the side.

Koga clenched his teeth as he stared down at the Hyuga in disbelief. _'This…girl…'_

Naruto jumped to his feet and looked around at the broken shuriken again. "Whoa…Hinata, that was awesome."

"Oh!" A startled Hinata spun around. She had almost forgotten that Naruto was there. "T…Thanks," she managed to say with a small blush.

Suddenly, Naruto zipped past Hinata and blocked the kick that was aimed at her back. He grabbed Koga's leg and threw the boy with all his strength. Koga flew back and crashed into the wall. Naruto ran towards him while crossing his fingers. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" One clone emerged from a puff of smoke and both Narutos charged at Koga. Hinata charged also, running a few feet behind them.

Koga silently growled as he watched his enemies. _'In this state, I can't defeat them when they're working together. Dammit, I may have to retreat…again.'_ Koga flew to the side as one Naruto punched at his chest, but Hinata was right on his tail. Koga stopped and attacked with his tiger paw and it connected with Hinata's palm. Normally Koga's strength would have surely shown through but strength means nothing against the Hyuga clan's gentle fist. As the chakra shot through his paw and up his arm, Koga temporarily lost all of his monstrous arm strength. Hinata pushed his arm aside and aimed a strike at his chest. Koga quickly jumped back to dodge the blow. A split second later, Koga's eyes shot up to see the two Narutos falling at him ready to kick his face in. His wings flapped furiously to pull Koga back enough to dodge the kicks.

"Take this!" Koga yelled as he rose into the air and dropped a small black ball. Before the leaf ninja could react, it exploded, covering them in dark smoke.

As darkness clouded her vision and intense force pushed on her back, Hinata let out a small cry that no one would ever be able to hear. Both Narutos clenched their teeth as they pushed against the all too familiar force. _'This must be…that special gravity smoke again!'_ One Naruto looked beside him to see Hinata fall to her hands and knees. '_Not again! I have…to do something…'_ Using all his strength to stay standing, one Naruto turned toward the other and they started working on their plan.

Outside, Koga looked down as he hovered above the special smoke. '_Good thing I kept a small dose of that stuff. They're finished.'_ As soon as a wave of relief began to set in, Koga stared at the smoke as it began to twist suddenly. All of the smoke twisted around and began moving outward. As the smoke began to clear in the center, Hinata could be seen breathing heavily on her hands and knees. The two Narutos stood with the blue spinning chakra in their hands. "Damn you!" Koga cursed aloud.

The Narutos jumped into the air and pushed the blue ball forward. "Rasen…" With a sudden speed boost from his wings, Koga slammed his tiger paw into one of the Narutos, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. Koga used his other hand to grab the other Naruto by his hair and throw him towards the ground face first. The Rasengan disappeared and Naruto crashed into the ground. Hinata pushed herself to her feet just in time to look at her fallen comrade.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Now die!" Koga flew down at Naruto to deal the final blow. When he was only a few feet away, Koga's eyes widened when the Naruto he was aiming for also disappeared in smoke. "Another clone?" He turned to his side to see Hinata toss a kunai directly at his head. He tilted it to dodge but the edge of the weapon grazed his wing. When he flinched from the pain, he couldn't react when the flying kunai transformed into the real Naruto. Taking this opportunity, Naruto kicked Koga in the forehead, causing his body to fall back.

With the last of his energy, Naruto bounced off of the wall and began flipping in the air, heading for Koga. With his body horizontally in the air, Koga was able to see Naruto flipping just above him and Hinata jumping at him from below. The Hyuga heiress prepared one last gentle fist attack as she flew up at Koga. "I call this one…" Koga didn't have the strength to react as the Konoha ninja closed in, one from above and one from below. Almost simultaneously, Naruto stopped his spinning, allowing his foot to slam down into Koga's chest and Hinata pushed her palm upward, striking Koga's back aligning with Naruto's kick. "… Konoha's Hyuga Uzumaki Barrage!"

With that last attack, all of the strength that any of them had was drained. Hinata fell to the ground and landed on her hands and knees. Koga coughed up plenty of blood before falling down to the ground. Naruto fell to the ground as well, without enough strength to even sit up again. While breathing heavily, Hinata turned and looked at her enemy. Koga was covered in a puff of smoke and later, his animal parts vanished leaving only his normal body.

'_Its…over.'_ Hinata managed to sit down while she caught her breath. She had nearly no strength and no chakra left. She knew Naruto was in an even worse condition. She looked over at her sleeping beauty only a few feet away. _'It makes since that he fell asleep…but…' _she turned and looked over at her defeated enemy. _'What am I supposed to do with him?'_

"Whoa, Koga you sure let them whoop ya."

Hinata's heart nearly beat right out of her chest. _'N…No…'_ She slowly turned her head toward the sound of the voice. She only got a small glimpse of the newcomer's face.

"Time to sleep." And with that and a sharp pain in the back of her neck, Hinata's eyes slowly closed and her head hit the floor.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Unfamiliar Jutsu: Shugo Hakke: Rokujuu Yon Sho – Protective 8 Trigrams: 64 Palms


	13. Danger Hidden in the Sand

Chapter 13

Danger Hidden in the Sand

Shikamaru mumbled curses under his breath as he high-tailed it through the streets of the sand village. His prey wasn't too far ahead of him; although, he was less worried about Temari and more worried about the looks he was getting. All the eyes of those who were passed by gazed at him. A Konoha ninja chasing a sand ninja? That didn't look too good. If he actually caught up with her that would reduce his chances to capture her. Not to mention the fact that her brother, the Kazekage, wasn't too far behind him. Nope, capture was out of the question right now.

The genius chunin grunted when they passed through a few walls and ended up back in the desert. '_Just what is she up to?'_ Finally, Temari came to a halt before jumping high into the air. Shikamaru quickly stopped and looked up at her. With one mighty crash, she came down and slammed into the desert floor, sinking into the ground. Shikamaru's eyes widened before he ran over to where she had landed. Instead of finding Temari buried in the sand, he saw small amounts of sand pouring into a hole in the ground. '_A secret tunnel?'_ After inspecting the hole, with no second thoughts, he jumped down into the passageway. Gaara and Kiba caught up with the chunin moments later and followed their ally down the hole.

A moment later, they all landed and were standing in an underground room with walls made of stone. In the center of the room stood Temari; her face holding an arrogant grin. They noticed that the room was bare besides a few lanterns and a tunnel entrance was on the other side of the room.

Neither party seemed to enjoy the situation that they were in. The Kazekage was the first to step forward. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked his sister sternly.

"I didn't want to lead you guys here, but now I think I have to fight."

Not paying attention to what she said, Shikamaru looked past the sand kunoichi and stared at the tunnel behind her. He quickly turned to look at his longtime comrade. Kiba noticed his eyes and turned towards him. After the leader nodded his head, Kiba nodded his in understanding and took a few steps forward. "Let's go, Akamaru."

The duo ran forward and began spinning to perform their signature jutsu. "Gatsuga!" They formed flying tornadoes and flew straight at Temari. She jumped into the air to dodge them. As soon as she jumped out of the way, they both stopped spinning and continued to run forward into the tunnel.

"Aww, looks like they are going to find out my secret." Temari said playfully as she landed back onto the ground.

Kiba and his partner took a few steps before turning a corner. Kiba's eyes widened at the sight. It was a dead end, but two bloody unconscious bodies laid against the wall. "I need some help back here!"

Hearing his call, Shikamaru ran towards the tunnel to help out his friend. As he passed by the kunoichi in the center, he noticed two kunai fly from her hand at him. He didn't even flinch since he also noticed a wave of sand rise up and block the attack. Temari clenched her teeth and looked over at the serious Kazekage.

Shikamaru quickly entered the tunnel and turned the corner. He faltered briefly at the sight before him before he went to help. Not only were they two unconscious ninja, but they were also the older brother and older sister of the current Kazekage.

"They need immediate medical attention," Kiba said as he picked up Kankuro.

"Then lets hurry," Shikamaru replied as he picked up Temari, the real Temari.

The imposter Temari grunted as she saw the Konoha nin emerge from the tunnel with the wounded ninja. She even allowed them to walk over next to Gaara again. The sand leader briefly looked over at his siblings' bodies before turning back towards his enemy. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Well I guess there's no point of hiding now." The imposter was covered in a puff of smoke as the transformation jutsu ended. Angry expressions grew on Shikamaru and Kiba's faces as the enemy's true self was revealed.

"Why am I not surprised?" Kiba said annoyed.

"Why would you be? It's me, the one and only Koga," he said with a smirk.

"You should let me at him," Kiba said angrily as he showed his fangs.

"No," Gaara suddenly replied. "You two, take them to a hospital. Get them emergency medical attention. I will deal with him."

There was no use arguing with the Kazekage after he made up his mind. They both nodded before jumping up through the hole and out of the room. As soon as they hit the desert floor, they ran full speed back towards the sand village.

"This doesn't make any sense," Shikamaru muttered to himself.

"What doesn't?" Kiba heard his friend and asked.

Shikamaru sighed as he thought of a good way to explain it. "Well, I had a theory. Have you noticed that ever since Naruto and Hinata were separated from us, we haven't ran into Koga at all besides now?" Kiba nodded. "I thought that Koga would have expected those sand ninja to finish us off, which is why he would spend his time messing with Naruto and Hinata, but now that he's here, that could only mean one of two things. Either Koga has an accomplice, or he could have finished Naruto and Hinata off already."

He paused to let the information sink in. Of course Kiba, as well as him, preferred the former of the two choices, but either way things didn't look too good.

"I guess we'll never know until we meet up with that idiot and Hinata," Kiba replied, choosing to ignore that second choice altogether. "Maybe Koga did leave them to come after us, or he's still with them, or they could have defeated him already," Kiba said, throwing out random ideas without much thought.

Shikamaru smirked. "Those could be true, but I doubt it." Kiba laughed as he knew his ideas were farfetched. "Besides, I doubt Koga could be in two places at once."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Gaara didn't move an inch as he stared down his opponent. Koga smiled at his seriousness. "Shall we get started?"

Immediately, sand busted out of his gourd and began crawling on the ground. A large hand of sand emerged and made a grab at Koga. He quickly jumped and threw a kunai with an explosive tag at the hand. It exploded, sending sand flying in all directions. Through the sand, Gaara noticed a few more kunai heading towards him. Sand rose up and blocked the weapons before they even got close.

"That's part of your absolute defense right?" Koga asked with a smug smile. "I heard that nearly makes you unbeatable…nearly!" Gaara stood unaffected by his words. "I wonder how strong your technique really is. I've heard some things about you, Kazekage. Let's see if they are true." He reached into his holder and tossed out some shuriken.

Gaara raised his hand and another large sand hand rose and knocked the weapons aside. As the hand came towards him, Koga quickly sidestepped to avoid it. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, another sand hand was in front of him ready to make a grab. He clenched his teeth and jumped back and to the side. When he landed, he looked around to find three sand hands surrounding him and closing in fast.

"It's over," Gaara announced.

"Not yet," Koga pulled out one more kunai and tossed it upward. Without a byakugan, it would have been nearly impossible to see the trap wire hidden on the ceiling. When the kunai cut it, camouflaged kunai were shot from the ceiling down at Gaara. He raised his hand again and a shield of sand rose to block the attack. As Gaara defended himself, Koga smiled when the three sand hands surrounding him fell to the floor.

"Oh, what's this? Do I see a weakness in this so-called absolute defense?" Koga taunted.

Gaara didn't respond, but his expression turned noticeably angrier. He quickly put his hand out and the sand beneath Koga's feet began to stir. Koga jumped high into the air and touched the ceiling with his hand. Four streams of sand shot up from the ground and flew up at Koga. The boy concentrated chakra to his hand to briefly cling to the ceiling. Seconds before the streams of sand could connect, he used the ceiling to swing himself over and dodge the attack. Just as two of the sand streams changed directions to follow their target, Koga flung a few more shuriken at Gaara. A shield of sand quickly rose and the streams of sand fell back to the ground.

Gaara stared angrily at his enemy as his shield fell to the ground. Koga laughed. "I was right! Boy, Akatsuki sure did a number on you. Looks like now you can only defend or attack, but not both at the same time. You have to concentrate so much on you attacks that when you need to defend, you can't keep the attack going. That's a pretty bothersome weakness, don'tcha think, Kazekage?"

"Analyzing one aspect of my fighting ability does not guarantee you victory," Gaara said finally.

"Oh I'm sure. I'm not done yet. I want to see how strong your defense really is." Koga held out both of his hands to the side. "Raiton…" Electricity began flowing between his fingertips until the lightning completely covered both of his hands. "Juuden Ya!" He clapped both of his hands together and as soon as they connected, a large surge of lightning in the shape of an arrow shot forward.

Gaara commanded a large shield of sand to rise up in protection. When the arrow hit the shield, Gaara could see the electricity flow past him on both sides. He had made this shield thicker than the others but even so it barely was able to stand up to the attack.

"That's good. Now what about this," Koga said as he held his hands out again. Electricity flowed between his fingers, but this time not as much as before. "Juuden Ya!" He clapped his hands and a very thin arrow of lightning shot forward. Gaara kept out his shield to block the attack, but this time as the arrow hit the sand, instead of it being blown to the sides, it shot right through the sand. Gaara couldn't react as the arrow went straight through his shield, grazed his left arm, and shot through the stone wall behind him.

Koga smirked once again. "My thin arrow can piece even the thickest of shields."

Gaara grabbed his left arm to stop some of the bleeding. He grunted. He knew that if the Shukaku was still within him, his shield would have been much stronger. It was painfully clear that Akatsuki had weakened the great sand leader. Instead of sulking about how much weaker he had become, Gaara quickly thought of a plan to snatch victory. After only a few seconds of thought, the idea came to him. Sure he was weaker without the Shukaku, but he could still use the knowledge and senses he had gained from bonding with it for all those years.

The Kazekage commanded the sand to gather under his feet and he began moving around the sides of the room. Koga raised his eyebrow at the action. "You think you can run? C'mon, we all know that you aren't the fastest ninja around…but…I could use some target practice." He held put his electrically charged hands again before clapping them together. "Juuden Ya!" He continuously shot off thin arrows at the fleeing Kazekage.

Gaara made the sand speed up as he moved around the room, narrowly avoiding the arrows. One arrow, however, he knew he couldn't dodge. He made another shield of sand quickly rise. '_Gotcha,'_ Koga thought with a smirk. As the arrow hit the shield, Koga noticed two lightning arrows emerge from the other side, each barely missing Gaara's body. _'Hmm…he must have made the sand within the shield constantly shift. That must have altered the arrow's angle and then split it into two arrows, both missing their target. He adapts very quickly.'_

Koga shot out more thin arrows, most of them missing their target. The few arrows that did find their way toward Gaara were split into two and pushed aside by Gaara's shield. Finally, Koga stopped his assault as his arms grew tired. Gaara stopped moving and stood in one spot, the same spot he stood in earlier directly under the exit.

"Well, looks like you found a way to avoid my thin arrows," Koga said, no longer holding a smirk. "So what now? You still can't attack me without leaving yourself open to attack, and I know you're not stupid enough to let that happen."

"That no longer matters," Gaara said. He held out both of his arms to the side. "This match was over before it even began. This place…shall be your tomb."

"Oh really? Well I don't think that…" the boy was silenced as the entire room began to shake.

"You put yourself into this situation. As soon as you harmed my family…and began underestimating my abilities…that is when your life ended."

Koga frantically looked around as the shaking became more and more violent. Finally, he caught on to what was happening. There were cracks made on the walls all around the room from his thin arrows. As the room shook, the cracks became bigger and sand began pouring into the room. He clenched his teeth. '_So that was his plan…'_

"This is the end." Gaara clenched both of his hands and instantly, the stone walls all around them were blown apart and sand rushed in. Koga quickly tried to escape but there was too much sand and nowhere to run. It only took seconds for Koga's whole body to be buried. Gaara rose to the surface of the desert and looked down at the sand below him. "Challenging me in a room surrounded by the desert…was a mistake." He bent down on one knee and pushed both if his hands into the ground. "Sabaku Taisou!" Another violent earthquake was created as the desert sand condensed, crushing anything and anyone beneath the desert floor. Gaara stood up and looked at the sand once again. He was victorious.

"Kazekage-sama!" Gaara didn't even bother to look as Shikamaru and Kiba approached the sand leader. "We felt that earthquake and…" Shikamaru held out his hand to silence his friend. It was obvious what had happened and who had emerged victorious.

"How are they?" Gaara asked with his back still towards them.

"They were beaten up pretty bad. They said Kankuro should recover in a few days. Temari is in critical condition…but the doctors are confident that they can save her."

Gaara took a second to let the information sink in. "That's a relief," he finally said.

"So, what now?" Shikamaru asked. It was now obvious that Koga was responsible for sending them on a fake mission and framing Temari. Even with Koga defeated, they still had some business to take care of.

"You still need to search for Hyuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto, correct?" Gaara asked. He still remembered everything that he heard from Shikamaru's last conversation with the imposter Temari.

"Yes. It would be helpful if you gave us a few of your men and…"

"Hey look up there!" Kiba cut his friend off to point at something. All three of the ninja (plus Akamaru) looked up to see a bird flying in circles around the group.

"That is not a desert bird," Gaara stated.

"Also, it doesn't look like a normal ninja messenger bird," Shikamaru added.

"I think it's a feudal lord's messenger bird," Kiba announced.

Shikamaru put his hands together and formed a seal. His shadow extended and attached to the birds circling shadow, holding it in place. Gaara commanded some sand to fly up and grab the bird. The sand brought it closer and the group began inspecting. It was definitely a feudal lord's bird. Also, a note was attached to the bird's leg. Shikamaru took off the note and unraveled it.

"What does it say?" Kiba asked.

Shikamaru almost growled at the first words on the note, but instead, composed himself and began reading aloud:

**Dear Master Koga,**

**Their mission is finally over. The Konoha ninja are already on their way back to their village. You should have no problem intercepting them. Good Luck.**

**Signed:**

**Lord Atsumaki**

"What does this mean?" Gaara asked, since he didn't know anything of Konoha's private affairs.

Kiba growled. "Lord Atsumaki…that's the feudal lord that Shino went on a mission for nearly a year ago."

Even Shikamaru's brain couldn't seem to connect everything that was going on. "So Koga also wanted to attack Neji, Choji, and Shino?"

"Ahh, this isn't making any sense!" Kiba complained.

Shikamaru blocked out the complaining so he could think. Despite everything that was happening, he still had the ability to think calmly in tense situations. _'There has to be some connection. Who Koga is…why he chose us to attack…why he chose the sand village to infiltrate…there has to be something.'_ His mind thought through as many different possibilities as possible. He had to come up with something. He knew giving up wasn't even an option. As he thought through the different ideas, his brain finally locked onto one single idea. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. '_Could it be…?'_

"Juuden Ya!"

Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts to see Kiba and Gaara in battle ready positions.

"Move!" Gaara commanded. They all scattered just in time to dodge a large lightning arrow headed straight at them. They all quickly looked around and easily spotted their enemy not too far away.

"Koga!" Kiba growled.

"This is impossible," Gaara stated. Even though his speech was calm, he was still shocked. "When someone is trapped beneath sand, I can feel their form. Through the sand I can feel everything about that person's body, including their heartbeat. Your body was crushed under the sand. Your heartbeat stopped. There is no way you could have survived."

"You are correct," Koga said with a smirk. "You killed me. Congratulations. Only a few people have managed to kill me before. I know I can't take on all three of you here. Look's like you earned that message…but it won't change anything."

"I've analyzed this note already," Shikamaru said. "I think I know what you're after. Now I'm almost sure that we can stop you."

Their enemy laughed hysterically. "Oh you already know that much? Good for you…but as I said, it won't change a thing." He pulled out a kunai and aimed it at the ninja. "Looks like both me and Koga have lost our battles. You ninja are good…but you should know…no matter how much you think you know, I assure you that our dream will be realized." With that as his last comment, he raised the kunai in his hand and proceeded to slice open his own throat. Even Gaara's eyes widened at the action. The ninja looked on, stupefied, as the boy's body hit the desert floor, lifeless.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N: Yeah, it's been a while, I know. But…I hope this chapter has made some people happy. It had action…and confusion. Lots and lots of confusion! Heehee things will be explained in later chapters don't worry. Please review!

Unfamiliar Jutsu:

Raiton: Juuden Ya – Lightning Style: Charging Arrow

Sabaku Taisou – Giant Sand Burial


	14. Joint Effort

Chapter 14

Joint Effort

It was happening again. No joy came from the situation he kept unconsciously forcing himself through. His mind be damned for torturing him like this. His mind be damned for reliving the past. His mind be damned for putting him through this agonizing moment…yet again.

"I…I…I…"

There he stood, forced to listen to the same word being spoken over and over again, its sound and his mood getting more sorrowful and pained. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't comfort her. He couldn't simply defeat someone and put a smile on her face. No…he was just as confused as he was hurt. And dare he say it…scared.

It was an image that no sane man could simply put out of their mind. There she stood…his comrade…his friend. Tears were streaming down her face, plus a powerfully emotional expression on her face that could only be made with pain and sorrow. As much as he wanted to help her, as much as he asked her what was wrong, no answer was given. Instead, just as her lips moved to express what her heart had wanted for so long, the sharp pain exploded from his back. His consciousness left quickly, causing him not to hear her last meaningful words. He could only fall…and sob inwardly for his failure. Even though there was nothing he could do, the facts still stood: she was crying…she was in pain…therefore, he failed her.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Naruto's eyes shot open. He quickly looked around the room to confirm where he was. As he sat up from his laying position, his eyes instinctually looked over at the sleeping Hinata only a few feet away. Plenty of thoughts quickly entered his brain. He decided to inspect himself a little. Hmmm…he was breathing heavily…he was sweating…and the thought of protecting Hinata was etched into his brain. Yup…he had that dream again.

He was amazed that he dreamt about it twice already and it only happened earlier today. The first time was directly afterward. When he was unconscious after being struck with the kunai, it was the first thing he dreamt of. His mind simply did not want to forget how Hinata must have felt at that moment. It was a painful memory…and he sure as hell didn't want to keep reliving it.

His train of thought ended once he noticed Hinata's head moving and her eyes slowly opening. The Hyuga held the back of her neck as she sat up. '_It still hurts.'_ As she rubbed her neck and looked around, she noticed Naruto staring directly at her. "Umm, h-hello N-Naruto-kun," she said, unable to stop the stuttering.

"Hey Hinata," he replied with a small smile. She gave him a smile in return. With that dream still fresh in his mind, he struggled thinking of something to say. After a few seconds of silence, he was finally able to come up with something, but it wasn't a particularly cheerful observation. "Hey, where's Koga?"

The embarrassing moments and thoughtful memories were both pushed aside as their mission popped back into their minds. They both looked around the room but a defeated Koga was nowhere in sight.

Finally, Hinata remembered what had happened just before her head hit the floor. "Naruto-kun, there's more than one!" she said quickly.

Naruto opened his mouth to comment, but he knew better than to throw in his own two cents when he had no idea what was being said. "Huh?"

"After we beat Koga and you were unconscious, a guy came out of nowhere and knocked me out. He must have taken Koga."

"So he had a partner!" Naruto said as he slammed his fist into his hand. "I should have known he couldn't pull all of this off alone. Hey, do you remember anything about the other guy? Anything at all?"

"I remember his face, but…" she paused and thought about what she was going to say next. "Well, it looked…kinda…like Koga."

Again, Naruto found himself unable to comment. "Huh?"

"I don't really get it, but I'm almost positive. The guy who knocked me out…looked exactly like Koga."

"So…there are two Kogas?" Naruto asked in wonder.

Hinata shrugged her shoulders, unable to give him an answer.

Naruto thought about the situation a little, but he dismissed it a moment later. Instead of dwelling on what was confusing, he decided to act based on what he knew. Right now, there was definitely one thing he knew: they had to get the hell out of this underground room. He missed the sun!

"Can you stand?" Naruto asked as he rose to his feet.

"Y-Yeah," she replied as she stood up.

"Good, because we have to get out of this underground tunnel. I don't know if I even remember what the sun looks like," he said with a grin as he looked over to the exit. He grunted inwardly as he looked at a large newly applied piece of stone that blocked the exit in the ceiling.

"They must have done that after they left," Hinata commented. Both ninja stood directly under the exit, thinking of what was the best course of action.

"How about I use my rasengan to break the stone and then we jump out?" Naruto suggested.

"That sounds fine," Hinata replied with a smile. Hinata always found herself smiling in any situation with Naruto. Smiling or blushing…one of the two.

"Alright, get ready then," Naruto said as he created a clone and began charging the chakra. With the blue ball in hand, he jumped up and pushed it into the stone that covered their only exit.

The stone crumbled into pieces easily. Hinata jumped up ready to leave through the exit. Naruto smiled down at her briefly before he looked up again. His smile left his face as he noticed the large mass above him. Quickly, tons and tons of sand began pouring into the room, although, Naruto and Hinata wasn't about to let sand prevent their escape. Naruto held his breath as he tried to 'swim' through the sand. _'It's almost just like water, just heavier,'_ he kept telling himself as he moved through the sand. Hinata followed his example and held her breath as they tried to 'swim' to the surface.

It was way harder than they expected.

After several moments, Naruto's hand finally shot up to the surface. He pushed around the sand and forced himself on top of it all. His lungs thanked him as he took a few much needed gasps for air. When his breathing returned to normal, he looked down at the sand, waiting (and hoping) to see Hinata's hand fly up.

Against Naruto's hopes, Hinata struggled to get to the surface. Shockingly enough…moving through sand was NOT as easy as moving through water! As Hinata wormed her way through the sand, unfortunately for her, a sharp pointed object grazed her ankle. The unexpected pain caused the kunoichi to yelp, allowing little bits of sand to enter her mouth. Not good.

As she began choking, she frantically moved to break free from the sand. Luckily, her hand soon felt free and she felt another hand grab hers. Naruto pulled with all his might and soon Hinata too was safe over the sand.

Before Naruto could grin at his comrade and celebrate their escape, he noticed her extreme coughing. "Are you…choking?" Naruto asked, though it was pretty obvious that she couldn't answer. Hinata sat on the ground continuously coughing, trying to force out the sand that was caught in her throat. Naruto got onto his knees and looked at the coughing girl worriedly, wondering what he could do. '_Her coughing seems pretty bad. Oh man…what are you supposed to do when people cough? There's the Heimlich maneuver…but isn't sand too small for that to work. Wait; there is one other thing…'_

Hinata let out one last big cough, expelling the last bit of sand from her throat. She cleared her throat and looked up to reply to the undoubtedly worried Naruto. "It's okay Naruto. I'm f…" There was no way that Hinata would have been able to finish that sentence. She was immediately and forcibly silenced. With the Heimlich maneuver out of the question, the blonde resorted to another method used for saving lives…CPR.

To save his dear friend's life (at least that's what he thought), Naruto cut Hinata off, closed his eyes, and quickly pushed his lips against hers. Hinata's eyes went wider than they ever have been before. Her face turned such a deep shade of red that it almost seemed as if it were permanent. Her heart began to beat way faster than she though was even humanly possible. Although this was one of the most shocking moments of her life, she was soon able to close her eyes and even push her lips harder against his. That is when it became the most wonderful moment of her life.

Sadly, all wonderful things have to come to an end sometime. Naruto pulled away a few seconds later while slowly opening his eyes. He watched as Hinata did the same. Without the ability to speak, or even think straight, all Hinata could do was stare into her beloved's eyes.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked suddenly. "You're not choking anymore, right?"

Hinata desperately wanted to answer his first question and pour all of her feelings out, but she still found speaking to be an impossible task right now. However, when she heard his second question, her confusion allowed her control over her thoughts again. '_Huh…choking…?'_

"I guess CPR really does work," he said with a small smile.

Hinata's mind nearly shut down right there. '_CPR?'_

Not aware of anything Hinata was doing, Naruto held his chin and looked down in thought. "This is my first time doing it, but I don't get it. How does kissing someone while they are choking actually save them?" he mumbled quietly to himself, although Hinata still heard him clearly.

The young girl's thoughts were sent racing once again. '_His mouth was closed…he didn't even try to blow any air…so he thought a normal kiss was CPR?'_ Her ecstatic mood then fled just as quickly as it had arrived. She thought she had just gotten her first kiss…not her first failed CPR attempt. '_Could that really be considered a kiss at all?'_

Naruto was still into his own thoughts. '_Oh well, now I at least know that CPR works…and Sakura-chan said I needed training before I could do it properly. Ha! It's not even hard. It just seemed like an ordinary kiss. Yup…my first kiss…and it was with…Hina...ta?'_ Naruto broke away from his thoughts and looked up from the ground. Instantly, his eyes locked with Hinata's. It was almost as if he was looking at her for the first time. Her long dark blue hair…her pale lavender eyes…her cheeks still holding a tint of red…those were a few of the features that Naruto now found to be quite cute. Yup, Hinata was a cute girl… '_and I kissed her?'_

For the first time in who knows how long, Naruto felt a small blush rush to his cheeks. He quickly turned away from the kunoichi and stood up. "So…umm…I'm glad you're okay," he said to break the silence.

"T-Thanks," Hinata replied, finally finding her voice again. She stood up and also couldn't look directly at her companion. She was going though too much emotionally. She half-way hoped that something would come along and take her mind off of him, but she knew her mind would collapse if it went without thinking of Naruto for too long. Instead, she hoped something could distract her from the sorrow and disappointment she was feeling. At least that wish was able to be granted.

"Naruto! Hinata!"

Both of them looked in the direction of the voice to see three familiar figures rushing towards them. Neither one could contain their joy as they spotted their comrades racing towards them. "Shikamaru! Kiba!" Hinata yelled with a smile on her face.

"You guys are alright!" Naruto said with a wide grin. Looks like the Konoha ninja were finally reunited.

Shikamaru and Kiba approached their new found comrades with smiles on their faces. Akamaru barked happily, clearly missing the duo as well.

"Long time no see," Kiba said with a smirk on his face.

"Likewise," Naruto said with a grin. "Looks like you guys handled yourselves nicely."

"Of course," the dog-nin smugly replied. "I would say the same to you but I'm sure Hinata did way more work than you, right?" he said while grinning at her. She gave her friend a smile in return.

"Hey! I know I did way more work than you," Naruto replied with a raised voice.

"Yeah right!" Kiba retorted with an equally loud voice.

Shikamaru chuckled. Another annoying Kiba-Naruto spat…who knew he would actually miss hearing these? Hinata also giggled as she watched them. They could always make her smile.

"I bet you didn't do anything at all," Kiba continued to argue with the blonde.

"Oh yeah, well I bet you didn't kick Koga's ass like I did," Naruto said proudly.

Kiba opened his mouth to respond but stopped as he thought about the blonde's last statement. "You fought Koga?"

Shikamaru was no longer chuckling as he came into the conversation. "You defeated Koga?"

"Well I and Hinata both did. It was a team effort."

Kiba looked over at Shikamaru, wondering what was going through his head. "Did anything weird happen while you were fighting him? Or did something happen afterwards?" the lazy chunin asked.

Naruto thought for a second. "Nothing weird happened during the fight. But after we defeated him…" he paused and looked over at Hinata. "Hinata said she was knocked out by a guy that looked just like Koga."

Kiba and Shikamaru both turned towards Hinata. This was the second time she received weird looks because of her observation, but she still had to report it none the less. "Yeah, I'm almost positive that the person who knocked me out looked exactly like Koga."

Shikamaru let out a sigh and put his hand on his head. "I was afraid of this?"

"What is it?" both Naruto and Hinata asked.

"It's pretty complicated," Kiba said.

"We'll explain as we move. We're wasting time."

"Right!" Naruto nearly shouted. "We have to get to the sand village and…"

"We've been there already," Shikamaru said, cutting Naruto off. We'll explain what happened while we move. Right now, we have to get back to Konoha as fast as possible."

"Konoha? But…" Shikamaru didn't wait for the blonde to finish before running off.

"We need to hurry," he said as he continued running.

"Well then let's go," Kiba said as he and Akamaru chased their leader.

Naruto grumbled something under his breath. He didn't enjoy being cut off…twice! Ignoring that for now, he turned towards Hinata and gave her a small smile. "Let's go before they leave us."

"Right," she said while smiling back. She began running in the same direction as the others, only to quickly stop and wince. "My ankle…" she mumbled aloud as she took a look at it.

Naruto heard her statement and looked at it too. There was a small cut and a little bit of blood. It was nothing serious, but the cut was in a sensitive place. Before his brain could even catch up with his body, Naruto ran over in front of her and crouched down with both of his hands open behind him. "Jump on."

'_Naruto-kun wants me to ride on his back?' _She blushed yet again as she thought about his offer. Before she could even try to convince him that she could run on her own, Naruto called back to her.

"C'mon, we need to catch up to the others," he nearly shouted.

With no time to waste, she climbed onto his back and was hoisted up. With Hinata in place, Naruto ran off to catch up with their comrades, both of the ninja hoping the other wouldn't notice the blush on his or her face.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Unbeknownst to the traveling Konoha ninja, a conversation was happening that could seal their fates.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good. I'm a lot better now thanks to you."

"Actually...you might not want to thank me yet."

"…why?"

"First off, they got away from me."

"Ah! So all of those Konoha ninja are still alive?"

"Yeah. Also, they intercepted the message that was sent from Atsumaki."

"What! So they now know that those other three Konoha ninja are involved too."

"Yup…looks like we both failed."

"Ah! Why are those leaf scum so much trouble to deal with?!"

"Hey…calm down. At least we anticipated that they will make it this far. We still have plan B to fall back on."

"True…and plan B will bring us so much more pleasure after we succeed."

"Exactly! You got to look on the bright side of things."

"Right. So, they are heading back to Konoha now, right? Shall we get going?"

"You're the boss. Let's do this!"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N: There…and the wait for this chapter wasn't very long either. Whoa…this story is almost at the finale already. Oh well…read and review!


	15. Revelations

Ok, first things first…..sorry! Sorry sorry sorry SORRY!!! I understand if you're thinking "Hey, who's this guy? Oh yeah, it's that guy that abandoned that story!" Well, maybe this chapter can redeem me a little bit. Since apologizing sometimes gets me nowhere, I'll just shut up and post the chapter.

Chapter 15

Revelations

"Ya know, you don't have to carry her all the way back to the village."

Kiba snickered at his leader's remark as he led the group. Hinata was relieved that no one looked back to see the red tint on her cheek. Sure she was embarrassed, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying it. Here she was, getting a ride on the back of her long time crush…for the second time! She found it hard to believe that it had happened yesterday at all.

After traveling for a few hours they had all stopped for a while to rest for the night. In the morning, right before they were ready to head out, Hinata's foot smacked against the sticking out root of a tree, earning a quiet yelp. As soon as she recovered from the near fall, she looked up to see Naruto offering her a ride.

"Your ankle still bothering you?" he asked.

Before her mouth could even begin to form a truthful "no" response, her deep desires had already nodded her head and thrown herself onto his back. Her brain probably had a list of reasons why that was a bad idea, some of which included the teasing that was occurring right now, but with Naruto so close to her, her heart quickly dismissed all warnings.

"I wonder if anything _special_ happened while you two were together," Kiba asked with a grin. This was teasing that he just couldn't afford to pass up.

"N-No," Naruto quickly answered with a quite noticeable stutter. But why the stutter? '_Nothing really happened. That kiss was just to stop her from choking. It doesn't count! It's not like that was my first real kiss. It's not like I have a crush or anything_…_on Hinata_…_'_

With his mind on Hinata and her body already so close to his, a strong sense of discomfort swept upon him. Even though his emotions always fill him up during missions, Naruto knew that now wasn't the time to be thinking about love, of all things. He shook away his thoughts the best he could before drowning himself in thoughts about the mission. "How far are we from Konoha?"

"Not too far," Kiba answered from the head of the pack. "We should reach the gate in about two or three hours tops."

"Umm, what's our plan when we get there?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled, somewhat annoyed. "You never told us anything about what we are gonna do or about Koga's whole multiple bodies trick. We need ideas."

Shikamaru sighed when Naruto's yelling pierced his ears from only a few feet away. "You don't have to yell all the time," he said dully as he tried to massage his poor eardrum. "Although I don't like leaving my teammates in the dark, I'm afraid I have to in order to increase our chances of survival."

Kiba's ears perked up from the words. "What do you mean?"

There was another sigh before he continued. "Well, from Koga's abilities we know that he is skilled in lightning based jutsu and his kekkei genkai allows him to transform and obtain various animal parts, right?"

"Right," Naruto answered.

"Now, him appearing everywhere is still a problem. Apparently, from all of our stories put together, Koga was able to fight Naruto and Hinata, rescue himself after he was defeated, get himself killed by Gaara, and then attack us before running away…all at the same time. We already established that they weren't shadow clones, so the question is: how can Koga be in four or more places at once?"

His teams silence told him that they didn't have any solid answers. "Of course, I don't have an answer to this question. Even though we have made some progress, Koga has obviously planned this out to leave behind as little evidence as possible. With what we know, it's impossible to come up with one solid answer and the number of possible answers is just about endless."

Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba took in all of their leader's words. It was displeasing information, but it was true nonetheless. The Kyubi container clenched his teeth at the lack of good news. "So, what do you think we should do?"

"Well," Shikamaru started, still wondering if he was using the right method. His second thoughts confirmed that he was. "I say that we should individually think of different answers to that question and different scenarios that could play out. If we don't share our ideas, then we can think without influencing each other's thoughts and, overall, cover more ground. When the time comes, if at least one of our ideas is close to the situation, then that person can hopefully enlighten the others and explain the best way to deal with the situation."

"That makes sense," Hinata murmured as she thought about the plan.

"So we just all think about the situation and when the time comes, whosever makes more sense will lead the others?" Naruto watch to see Shikamaru nod in return. "Ok, I can do that," he said with a grin.

"But, what if nothing happens when we return to the village? Should we just report to the Hokage?" Hinata asked.

"If nothing happens then yes, but if something does happen, and I bet something will, we act based on the situation. Speaking of which," the lazy genius said as he increased his speed until he was next to Kiba. "I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?" The shadow user moved even closer before whispering something into his comrade's ear. A brief look of confusion covered Kiba's face. "Huh? Are you sure?"

"If I'm right, then you do that and I'll take care of the rest," Shikamaru replied before falling back to his middle position. "So, does everyone know the plan?" Everyone nodded to give their approval. "Oh, and since we're getting close to the village, it would be beneficial if Hinata could travel on her own."

Kiba snickered again and the two close teens blushed. "O-Oh yeah," Naruto replied. "Do you think you can travel on your ankle?"

"Y-Yes, I'm f-fine," Hinata slowly replied. Shikamaru chuckled at the exchange. He knew that Hinata's ankle was fine, in fact, it was painfully obvious. He knew he wouldn't mind a little romance between the two, as long as Hinata could keep Naruto in check a little bit. Romance may actually make Naruto a little bit less troublesome…if that was even possible.

Naruto stopped briefly to let Hinata off. Although she didn't want to separate from him just yet, the last thing she wanted to do was jeopardize the mission. A few minutes later they were all moving in their usual formation, heading back to the leaf.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"Well, this is a nice change."

The comment startled the ninja as they moved. Most of their journey was in silence so the sudden conversation started was unexpected. "What change?" the Akimichi boy asked.

"A few minutes ago, we just re-entered the fire country's border." Shino replied.

"Oh yeah," Choji replied with a grin. "Your bugs feel more at home now?"

"Yes they are," was his simple response, earning himself a smile from Choji.

"Let's pick up the pace," Neji ordered as he led the group. "We should arrive at Konoha soon." Their anxiousness to return to their home pushed them forward as they ran full speed toward the village.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"It won't be long now," Kiba said eagerly as they jumped from tree to tree.

"Remember, we are home but we're still in a dangerous situation," their leader reminded them.

"Right," Hinata replied.

"Of course," Naruto said with a grin.

Finally, they all reached the road that led straight to the village gate. Kiba smiled as soon as the entire gate came into view, but a moment later, a sharp pain shot across his forehead. Kiba rubbed his head from the sudden headache but continued to run until the pain vanished.

Shikamaru noticed the dog-nin's reaction and quickly grabbed a kunai and tossed it forward.

"Whoa," Kiba blurted out as the kunai whizzed past him.

"Sorry, thought I saw something," Shikamaru replied. The others dismissed the action as they ran through the gates and entered the hidden leaf village. They immediately began jumping from building to building, heading towards the Hokage.

"Nothing happened yet," Hinata said while looking around.

"Yeah, let's just hope it stays that way," Kiba replied.

They all looked at the people in the village as they moved. The villagers weren't worried about any attack; they were just going about their lives normally. Certainly, nothing was out of the ordinary.

The four ninjas reached the Hokage mansion entrance and ran inside. They were thankful for the empty hallways as they sped toward the Hokage's office. Only a step away from the door, three of them stopped to somewhat calm themselves before the fourth quickly busted through.

"Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto yelled as he stepped inside.

The pencil in the Hokage's hand nearly snapped as a vein appeared on her forehead. "Naruto…" she said, somewhat menacingly, as she slowly looked up.

"Pardon our intrusion," Shikamaru said politely as he entered followed by Hinata and Kiba. "We need to talk to you right away."

Tsunade took a breath before resting her chin on her interlocked fingers. "Alright, how was the mission?"

Naruto's mouth was only a second away from bursting open before Shikamaru pulled him back and stepped ahead. "As you have ordered, we checked out that road outside of the village and found nothing out of the ordinary. We then proceeded to head to the sand village; however, we were constantly under attack."

"Under attack?"

"A strange ninja named Koga apparently bears some sort of grudge against us," Kiba added. "He has attacked us various times."

"Yeah, he even split us up and tried to torture us individually!" Naruto threw in.

The Hokage only stared with a serious expression as she took in the information. "What happened to this Koga? And what about the distress call in Suna?"

"Well, Koga has yet to be captured." Shikamaru explained. "Also, oddly, the Kazekage told us that he had no idea that a distress call was put out. It was all a trap by Koga."

Even Naruto and Hinata stared in wonder at that comment. This was news to them.

"This is a very serious problem," Tsunade said. "This must be handled very carefully."

A smile slowly appeared on Shikamaru's face. "Oh I agree…which is why I would like to ask my team a few questions." Tsunade's eyebrow rose at the chuunin. "Hinata, I sensed you used your Byakugan once we entered the building, correct?"

All of the eyes in the room were directed at her. "Right. Once we were inside, I detected that besides Tsunade-sama, we were the only people in the building."

"As I thought," Shikamaru said as his smirk grew slightly wider.

"But what does that mean?" pondered a confused Naruto.

"What indeed does that mean? I wonder…" Shikamaru turned his attention to Kiba. "You have something to add, right?"

Now, all eyes darted to Kiba. "I was constantly sniffing around as we entered the leaf village. Usually, all of the people's scents would cause a confusing whirlwind of smells, but this time, I only smelled one constant scent throughout the whole village."

Naruto slowly began to catch on. "So you're saying all of the villagers smelled the same? Is that possible?"

"No, Naruto, that is impossible," Kiba answered.

The chunin leader smiled again. He was proud of his team's senses. He didn't expect Naruto to come up with anything, but Naruto always comes up with ways to prove his worth. "So, the question is: what does all of this mean?" His attention slowly moved toward the Hokage.

Again, all eyes focused onto one person, this time, the Hokage. She looked at all of the faces. Naruto's was filled his confusion, of course. That didn't bother her, but the others. Kiba and Hinata looked uncertain, but at the same time, determined. The most unsettling look was Shikamaru's. He stared at her intently, a smirk on his face as if he knew everything. It annoyed her to no end. Just then, a new emotion flashed across her face. Shikamaru noticed it quickly. It seemed like…panic? "What is the meaning of all of this?"

Shikamaru decided to finally say what was on his mind. "Can I ask a question, Hokage-sama? If we were sent on an important mission to help out a fellow village, why would you ask us to check out that road near the village?" The room was tense and silent as everyone waited for the boy to continue. "You see, it makes no sense to put such an unimportant task on a team that must perform something of great importance. The next thing that bothered me was the headaches. Everyone, I'm sure you noticed that every time we went to see the Hokage, a small and quick headache would grace out heads."

"I remember that," Naruto spoke up. The other two just nodded their heads.

She couldn't take this anymore. Tsunade slammed her hands against the desk as she rose up. "What is the meaning of this? I will not take these accusatory tones!"

Shikamaru ignored her as he continued. "It seems that something is always strange once we want to talk to you. It feels as if it's all a strange dream…or possibly…a genjutsu!"

Tsunade's fist smashed into the desk, breaking it in two. She was a second away from tossing the large desk pieces at the ninjas, but a long black shadow kept her from attacking.

Everyone in the room was immediately in a battle ready stance. Shikamaru stood up after successfully capturing his target in his shadow.

"So this is a genjutsu!" Naruto yelled.

"It's the only way everyone outside would have the same scent," Kiba explained. "Because they aren't real."

"It also explains why the Hokage mansion is completely empty with no helpers or guards," Hinata added. "He didn't want to add any people we would possible stop and talk to, or else we would eventually find the genjutsu more obvious."

Shikamaru stared at Tsunade and the woman stared back evilly. "It was all a set-up. The real Hokage never sent us on a mission to the sand. It was all a genjutsu. You just needed a way to get us out of the village, and you asked us to check out that road so you could monitor and control our every move. You knew if you impersonated the Hokage, we would have to do whatever you said as long as it pertained to the mission."

Naruto's fists were already clenched. "You dare impersonate Grandma Tsunade!" His rage was clear and dangerous.

Tsunade looked at all of the faces in the room. Finally, a smirk appeared on her face. "Well, looks like I'm busted."

Everyone's eyes widened a bit. That wasn't Tsunade's voice talking. It was a voice they knew all too well.

"Koga!" Kiba took a step forward, ready to pounce.

"Yes this is a genjutsu," Koga's voice explained from Tsunade's body. "But just because you realized it doesn't mean you can escape from it. Actually, you can't help what is about to happen right…about…now!"

"Noooooo!"

The Konoha ninjas quickly looked over to the owner of the scream. They all looked just in time to see Hinata fall through a black hole that appeared in the floor.

"Hinata!" Both Kiba and Naruto made a dash for the hole, but as soon as the Hyuga fell through, it quickly disappeared, leaving a solid floor.

"Poor little Hinata," the enemy ninja taunted with a smile.

"You bastard!" Naruto yelled as he slowly stepped toward the false Hokage. "Hinata better be ok! I swear if you hurt her I'll…" the blonde was cut off as a large amount of blue chakra surrounded him. In a flash, Naruto completely vanished.

"What?" Koga blurted out. He and Kiba stared in wonder at the blonde's disappearance.

"That must be our exit," Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Koga turned a menacing glare towards the lazy chunin. He chuckled. "Always thinking ahead I see. Bravo, you are quite smart, Nara Shikamaru."

Blue chakra once again appeared, this time covering Kiba. "I guess I'll just have to trust you," Kiba said to Shikamaru. Instantly, Kiba disappeared as well.

Koga and Shikamaru were the only ones left. "Looks like we've almost reached the end," the evil boy announced. "You've seen through everything. Now the only question left is…can you stand up to me in battle?"

Shikamaru stared intently at the boy. He slowly moved his mouth to speak. "Sorry, but that's not the question you should be asking. For all of our sakes, including yours, I hope Hinata is okay. Be ready, because my team is going to stop you." Finally, blue chakra surrounded Shikamaru's body. "And as far as I'm concerned, your fate lays…in Naruto's hands." In the blink of an eye, Shikamaru vanished.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Naruto's eyes shot open. '_What…happened…_?' After noticing he was lying on the ground, he quickly sat up, allowing his head to smash into the person in front of him.

"Ow…" he said holding his head.

"Ouch, watch it, Naruto!" yelled a familiar voice.

Naruto finally looked ahead to see the familiar pink-haired kunoichi. "Sakura?"

The girl sighed as she crawled to the side. "I'm going to let that one slide, since you're in this situation." Naruto watched her as she stopped next to Kiba's unconscious body. "Besides, I have to get these guys out of this genjutsu."

Naruto noticed Kiba, Shikamaru, and Akamaru's bodies lying on the floor. He looked around and noticed that they were a few yards away from the village entrance. '_We were in the illusion before we even entered the village._' With everything slowly replaying in his head, Naruto remember the situation. "So you saved me. But…how did you know that…"

"Shikamaru," Sakura cut him off, answering the question she knew he would ask. She began concentrating as he put her hands up to Kiba's head. Chakra began flowing between them. To force one person's own chakra into the body of someone else…the best way to dispel a strong genjutsu.

Naruto's brain immediately backtracked. _'That kunai that Shikamaru threw! He must've used that to call for Sakura.' _Kiba's eyes quickly opened and he slowly sat up. He noticed the kunoichi next to him. "Sakura huh? I guess Shikamaru does think ten steps ahead. Thanks."

She smiled. "No problem." She them crawled over and began working on Shikamaru.

Kiba sighed as he looked over to his other friend. "Hey Naruto…" The blonde look over at him. "Hinatas not here is she?"

Naruto sighed and looked down at the ground. It was one of the first things he noticed. "No."

"Koga took her." The two looked over as they heard the newly awakened Shikamaru's voice. "We have to save her."

"But where is she?" Kiba asked as he rose to his feet.

Shikamaru looked into the forest and pointed at a tree. "That could help." Everyone observed a note attached to the tree. An arrow drawn on it pointed deeper into the forest.

"Then what are we waiting for!?" Naruto yelled. "We have to go and save…"

"Calm down," Shikamaru cut him off. "We are waiting for reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?" Naruto and Kiba both repeated. Naruto clenched his teeth. "But when are reinforcements gonna…"

"Shikamaru!"

Naruto stopped as he heard the call. In the blink of an eye, a ninja appeared before Shikamaru before grabbing him in a monstrous hug. "How…are…you…Choji?" Shikamaru asked through breaths as the other boy continued to hug him.

"Oh, sorry." Choji released the boy but he still couldn't suppress his happiness. "It's been almost a year! I'm glad to see you! How is everyone?" He looked over the lazy chunin's shoulder to see the others. "Hey! Naruto, Kiba, Sakura!"

"I see someone was a little homesick," Shino said as he appeared next to Choji.

"It's only natural," Neji said as he joined the others.

The three ninjas attitudes were quickly changed as they entered the tense atmosphere. They were worried as they looked at everyone else's faces. Naruto and Kiba were clearly angry. Sakura seemed pretty sad and Shikamaru…his face was both serious and determined. That's something you don't see everyday, including his best friend Choji. "Did something happen?"

Shikamaru took only one minute to briefly explain the situation to everyone. He noticed a quick, intent expression cross Neji's face as soon as Hinata's name was brought up. Everyone quietly listened until the explanation was over.

Shino was the first to speak afterwards. "So this Koga person still has Hinata, correct?"

Shikamaru nodded his head.

"Then I suppose you already have a plan ready, Shikamaru. You're the leader, so what do we do?" Even Shikamaru was shocked to hear Neji say those words. After all, Neji was a jounin and he was only a chunin. "I have little interest in our ranks right now," Neji added. "You know more about this situation, and your leadership qualities far exceed my own."

Shikamaru smiled and nodded at the older boy. "Alright then, I need everyone to listen up." Everyone crowded around their leader as he began to explain. "My orders are simple really. Naruto, Kiba, Neji, Choji, we are going after Hinata. Shino and Sakura, I want you to report everything I have told you to the Hokage. I want her to hold off on sending help. If we don't return after an hour, send reinforcements."

"Understood," Shino and Sakura said. After that, they both ran back toward the village.

"Wait, wouldn't it be better if one of them came with us?" Choji asked. "The more, the better, right?"

"No," Shikamaru replied. "It must be us. This is what Koga wants."

After those words, everyone finally realized the reason, even Naruto. "So…this is the reason…" he said.

"We have to move," Shikamaru ordered. "The old formation should work," he said with a small smile, earning him smirks from all of the others. "All right, let's go!"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N: I wonder if I will get any reviews. Sorry again!!!


	16. Reunited! The Special Retrieval Team

A/N: As another part of my apology….here's a looong chapter that will hopefully please everyone.

Chapter 16

Reunited! The Special Retrieval Team

There they were…traveling through the forest…yet again. It was so many years ago, yet the memories were still fresh in their minds. Most of those memories, admittedly, were pretty bad. That was something they couldn't deny. That mission…was a failure. It was a day they didn't like to think about, but hopefully this team will hold a different meaning after today. The memories and being in each others presence, those factors gave them the strength to push forward and gave yet another reason for them not to fail.

Everyone remembered the old formation. Memories like that don't fade away too quickly. Kiba and Akamaru led the way through the forest followed by the analytical Shikamaru, the savior Naruto, the backbone Choji, and the watchful Neji. They all moved quickly, following the arrows that were found on the trees.

The journey was silent. Each had something on their mind. Although their thoughts were different, their resolves were identical and absolute. They were NOT about to let ANY comrade die here. After a few minutes of traveling, the leader had something to say. "This is it. Naruto…Kiba…I'm sure everything will be decided soon. Let's be ready for that." Both ninjas nodded at that statement. "Choji and Neji…I'm sorry you two had to come back after so long and then be thrown into something like this. I hope you two are ready." Those two also nodded. "And I have one more thing to say. I know this team brings back painful memories for all of us…but we will make sure the outcome is different. After today…this will not be the team that failed to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. We WILL be the team that rescues Hyuga Hinata and I will not allow ANYTHING to change that outcome!!!"

The words were powerful…the words were accurate…and the group was ready to do anything to make them come true.

The group halted their advance once they finally reached a tree with an arrow pointing down. They all surrounded the area and looked at the arrow pointing at the dirt below. Instinctively, Neji activated his byakugan and scanned the ground below. "There's a secret tunnel in front of the arrow. It goes down pretty deep and leads to a large underground room. I can see two people in the room. Both of their chakra belongs to that of a ninja. Also, I do not see Hinata with them."

As soon as Neji finished talking, the group looked up when they heard a puff of smoke and a swirl of chakra. "Then what are we waiting for?" Naruto nearly yelled as he fell toward the hole, a rasengan full of rage being gripped in his hand. Everyone took a step back as the rasengan crashed into the ground, blasting away clumps of earth and even blowing over the tall tree. After a few seconds, everyone looked down to see a large crater with the small tunnel lying in the middle.

"Well, someone's anxious," Shikamaru stated as he jumped into the tunnel after the blonde boy.

"Let's go!" Kiba shouted, jumping in after his leader. Choji and Neji silently followed.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The fall only lasted a few seconds, but they were a few seconds too long for a certain jinchuuriki. It almost seemed that gravity, too, was holding Naruto back from his goal. Nevertheless, Naruto was ready as soon as he landed onto the stone floor of the large underground room. His eyes immediately glared at the two figures in the center of the room, but his brain wasn't ready for what he was seeing. "W-What the…?"

Shikamaru quickly landed beside his friend and moved aside to give the others room. One after another, each Konoha nin joined the others until they were all together again, each staring at the other two figures in the room.

Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru stared in semi-shock at the sight before them. Choji and Neji barely knew anything about the situation, but could easily tell that something wasn't right. "So," Choji started slowly, "that guy is Koga?"

"Yeah," Kiba answer.

"Which one?" Neji asked, still staring the enemy nin down.

"That's what I want to know," Naruto responded, still fueled with rage.

Two ninja stood in the center of the room, both staring somewhat seriously at the group. Koga stood on the right, wearing his usual all black outfit and his hair in the usual short ponytail, but on his left, stood an almost identical copy of him. Instead of all black, the one on the left wore all white with his hair brushed down barely reaching his neck.

"Are they clones?" Choji asked aloud.

"Well, you could say that," the boy on the right stated. "For those who don't know me, my name is Miamoto Koga. Pleased to meet you," he said with a smirk.

"And me?" the other boy said in a playful voice. "I am his younger twin brother. Miamoto Gako, pleased to make your acquaintances."

The leaf ninja slowly took in all of the information before them. Kiba growled, "So there was two of him the whole time!"

"Oh please," Gako said as he waved his hand at his brother. "Just because I had to pretend to be my brother doesn't mean we have too much in common. You'd be wise not to get us mixed up."

"Why you…" Kiba made a fist and took a quick step forward.

"Kiba! Stay back!" Kiba quickly stopped his advance, staring over at his comrade. Neji began scanning the ground, his veins visible on both sides of his head. "It seems that besides where we are standing, there are explosive tags planted all over the room."

"What?" Kiba took a step back and looked all around the floor, even though the tags were invisible to his eyes.

"You…" Shikamaru said suddenly, gaining everyone's attention. "Gako." The boy in question looked back at the smart chunin. "The one that was in the sand village…the one that impersonated Temari and fought Gaara…that was you, right?"

The boy smirked at the genius before him. "Impressive. Yes, that was me. How could you tell?"

"You pretended to be your brother well. I noticed some slight differences between meeting you in the sand village and meeting Koga in that grassy field. I couldn't piece it together until now, but now that I can, it makes sense. After all, I could easily tell the difference between juvenile playfulness and downright arrogance."

Both Miamoto brothers felt insulted at that statement. Koga only smirked as he spoke. "Arrogant am I? Well, I apologize for that, but I find it extremely difficult to not be arrogant when in the presence of such insignificant beings." He couldn't help but glance over at the Uzumaki boy, who easily returned a death glare.

"And I may be playful and juvenile," Gako spoke up, "but I assure you that weak is a word that holds no truth when describing me."

Kiba chuckled at that statement before addressing the boy. "There's still something I don't get. Even if you were pretending to be Koga, Gaara still killed you back in the sand village. How are you still alive?"

"Oh that I shall answer in due time," the younger brother responded, easily angering Kiba some more.

Neji was slowly taking in all of the information that was being presented. He glanced over at his teammates, wondering what their take on things were. His leader looked as if he hadn't moved an inch. He just stood there, staring at his enemies and analyzing everything that was being said. _'Typical Shikamaru…'_ Naruto and Kiba both looked like they were a second away from charging the enemies head-on. The Hyuga boy could, however, sense more rage within Naruto. He was honestly amazed that Naruto had lasted this long without losing it. Finally, Choji stood near the back. Neji noticed the small flash of confusion on his face whenever anyone spoke. After all, Choji didn't know anymore about the situation than he did. With hopes of getting more answers, and stalling Naruto's growing anger, Neji addressed the boys. "There's one thing I would like to know," he started, getting their attentions, "why us? How did all of this start and what did any of us do to deserve this?"

The twins smirked at each other before looking back at the group. "Why don't you look at each other and tell us," Gako stated.

"We know what group we are in," Choji stated, somewhat annoyed. "We've never seen you guys before now, so what do you two have to do with that mission all those years ago?"

"Aw c'mon. I'm sure if you think hard enough you could get it."

"Stop screwing around with us!" Naruto shouted. "We have no time for these mind games! Just answer us now!"

Gako's expression quickly became annoyed. He stared at the jinchuuriki and began cracking his knuckles. "Why you…"

"Gako," his older brother commanded, "I shall tell them. I can only see us gaining more satisfaction if they all know the reason why they will die today. Tell me," he asked the Konoha group, "recalling that mission, ask yourselves, why are you still alive?"

Each ninja pondered the question for a moment before Kiba spoke up. "Because those sound ninja flunkies were no match for our power," Kiba answered.

Gako immediately took a step forward, ready to pounce. Koga quickly grabbed his brother's collar to keep him at bay. "There lies the problem."

"What's with the sudden anger?" Choji asked, referring to Gako.

The younger twin calmed himself before staring back at the chubby ninja. "The sound 4 were no flunkies."

"You all don't know how things work in the hidden sound village," Koga said while taking a step forward, "so I shall enlighten you. You all may know this already, but Lord Orochimaru can be quite heartless at times."

Based on the conversations, they all already could tell that the Miamoto siblings were sound ninja, but even so, hearing the name of their all-time enemy can still easily spark anger within their hearts. Koga continued, "I'm sure you know that sometimes he doesn't seem to care about his subordinates at all. Well let me tell you, that statement is even truer within the sound village's border."

Gako decided to take over. "Lord Orochimaru has thousands of followers, but to say that he actually cares about a few dozen of them would be a far-fetched statement. Thousands of people worship him, but he only cares about a select few. One of those select few were the Sound 4."

"The Sound 4 were one of Lord Orochimaru's personal bodyguards," Gako continued. "In a way, he trusted them with his life. It was many of the soldiers' dream to join the Sound 4, including ours, although, we had a much more meaningful reason for it."

The Konoha ninja were silent as they listened. "Some people wanted to join them for fame. Some wanted to join them for power. But us? We wanted to join for acceptance."

After a few eyebrows were raised, Koga took over. "We showed excellent ninja abilities when we were very young, so we joined the sound army at a young age. As young soldiers, we didn't know much about the pride of our village, but we knew a lot about fighting for our lord. Do you know how difficult it is to risk you life for someone that doesn't acknowledge or even care about your existence?" He paused for a second. "We couldn't stand it. We needed recognition by our lord. We needed to know that Lord Orochimaru valued us. Eventually, we decided that the only way to become valued was to join an already valued group. That is when joining the Sound 4 became our dream."

"We trained day and night, hoping to reach their level. We looked up to them. We spent everyday desperately wanting to join them. It was difficult, but we knew we would achieve our goal one day. That is, until an announcement was made. We were told to be ready for the arrival of a special guest, a guest that the Sound 4 were sent to personally escort. We heard the news the day Uchiha Sasuke reached the village, alone. The great Sound 4 were defeated by lowly Konoha ninja!"

The leaf ninja took this pause to take in all of the information. A simple scan of their enemies' faces told them that this was a very emotional topic for them. They could only stand there and listen as their enemies explained.

"Not only did the news break our hearts, but it greatly annoyed Lord Orochimaru! Once his best warriors were destroyed, he only trusted those that were close to him. Kabuto and Sasuke became the only two that were even allowed in his presence. He already barely cared about his soldiers, but soon he hated them, even killing a few when a small thing annoyed him. At that point we knew that being valued by Lord Orochimaru became a near impossible goal. Our whole life's work would be for nothing…and Koga wasn't about to let that happen."

Koga looked over at his brother as he took over. "It was two years ago. Kabuto and Sasuke were in their own training session and Lord Orochimaru decided to take a walk. I just had to approach him…"

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

'_Well, this is a surprise.'_

He was content with his walk. He was content with being alone. He was content in admiring the village that he owned. His content, however, was put on halt when he was approached. He now stared down at the two small figures on their knees, bowing to him with their heads in the dirt.

"M-My greatest apologies, L-Lord Orochimaru-sama. We are so sorry for approaching you like this but we beg of you to hear us out."

The snake lord pondered this for a moment. He truly had nothing to do at the time. Luckily, he was in a good mood today. "What is it you want?"

The boy could barely speak after hearing his lord's voice. His desperate situation gave him the ability to calm down. "My name is Miamoto Koga and next to me is my little brother Miamoto Gako. We have come to you with a simple request. We have observed many things and we are positive that this will benefit you. Please, my lord, allow us to leave this village and personally slay the leaf scum that murdered the Sound 4."

Orochimaru was silent for a while. He smiled at the boy before him. '_His voice…it's so determined. He really wants this.'_ He decided to toy with the boys a bit. "You both seem somewhat strong. I would enjoy hearing about the deaths of Konoha ninja, but I'm sure you two will fail." He notice them both wince at those words. "Even if you could fights the others, do you really think you can survive a battle with a jinchuuriki?"

Even with their faces still in the dirt, they both silently gasped at the idea. They didn't know too much about them, but they have heard rumors about the awesome power that jinchuuriki's are said to possess. "Jin…chuu…riki," Koga repeated slowly to himself.

"Pardon my boldness my lord, but I am positive that we can succeed!" Koga was surprised to hear Gako's voice speak up. "I am sure that I and my brother can defeat those Konoha ninja. We shall avenge the Sound 4 and proudly represent this village and your lordship!"

Orochimaru's smile widened. He was enjoying the devotion. _'Miamoto…a while back, Kabuto told me about two powerful brothers that were in the army. To think they would serve themselves to me on a silver platter.'_

"Alright…"

Both brothers' eyes widened when they heard that. Were their ears playing tricks on them? No. It was actually said! They heard him clearly!

"I shall give you a year. You have that long to train within my personal buildings. Of course, you can train with Kabuto and Sasuke if you like, but only if you think you can handle it. After a year, you may leave the village and kill your targets. I assure you, if you succeed, you shall return here with my utmost respect."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The Konoha group was still silent after hearing the story. So much was being said and there was so much to interpret.

"That was the single greatest moment of our lives," Gako stated. "We trained for a full year after that. Kabuto even helped us. Once that year was up, we knew we were ready for you. We planned everything out, built all of these underground tunnels, and waiting until we could put our plan into motion. This is the result of our hard work. We have waited for this moment for so long…now all that is left is your deaths."

"So all of this," the brothers looked over as Shikamaru finally spoke. "All of the torture, all of the pain, everything just because we did what was necessary to retrieve a friend?"

"No," Koga responded. "All of this is because you destroyed our dreams. So now, we will destroy you."

The room was silent once again. The tension would be too much for a normal person to bear. They each stood within the harsh atmosphere silently until the blonde boy had something to say. "So…this is all because of that mission. This is all because of those ninja that we defeated. I get that…but, there's something that I don't get. If you have a grudge against this team…and you both want to kill us five…then where the HELL does Hinata fit into all of this!"

Koga and Gako looked at each other before Koga decided to speak. "Oh her? She was just a bonus." Naruto's fists clenched with rage once he heard that. "With everything that we planned, we decided we wanted to torture you guys as much as possible. Once we found out two of you would be on a mission for a while, we decided to focus on you three. That's when Kabuto suggested something. He told us, while he was a spy here, he notice a girl who had a painfully obvious crush on a certain jinchuuriki. For many years her crush never changed, so he knew that even now she would still have that same crush. To find someone that had an emotional tie to you was lucky for us. Why don't you face the facts, Uzumaki Naruto. Hinata's love for you is what involved her in this. No matter how you look at it, it's your fault that she will die today."

"Grrrrr…" The Konoha ninja each noticed the low growl emanating from Naruto. After a noticeable flash of red chakra, Naruto took one large step forward.

"The explosive tags!" Neji quickly reminded.

After hearing that, Naruto jumped forward as far and high as he could, avoiding all of the tags on the floor. Gako took a large step to the side, leaving Koga standing alone as he stared down the approaching demon. "KOGA!!!" Naruto's fist was cocked back, ready to strike. Right before the fist could collide with his face, a few explosive tags in the ground exploded all around Koga, covering the two in smoke.

"Naruto!" Kiba and Choji shouted.

"Neji!" Shikamaru shouted while turning to his friend. Neji, however, was already searching through the smoke with his byakugan.

"They're okay. They both fell through a secret tunnel. They're still falling but they just left the range of my byakugan."

Kiba and Choji both sighed in relief. Now with Naruto and Koga gone, the remaining leaf ninja stared at the enemy before them. "Looks like now it's my turn."

"Do you really think you can defeat all four of us?" Kiba asked.

A wide smirk grew on Gako's face. "Let's see. Earlier, you asked why I wasn't killed by Gaara. Well, I shall show you the answer." He then began forming various hand signs, putting the ninja on their guard.

"What is he planning," Neji wondered aloud.

Once his seals were done, Gako finally finished it all off by putting his index and middle fingers together on both hands and then forming a plus by crossing them, a seal identical to the knuckleheaded ninja's signature attack. "Kinmotsu no Jutsu: Gentei Seimei Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Three puffs of smoke appeared next to the boy and eventually, three clones of Gako were made.

"Remember team," Shikamaru said while getting in a battle ready stance. "We already confirmed that those aren't normal shadow clones."

"You are right," the real Gako explained. "This is part of the forbidden jutsu I've learned. They seem like shadow clones but they won't disappear after one hit. In fact, you can torture them if you like, but they shall only disappear once they are killed or if the time limit is up. Until then, they are actual, living breathing people who look just like me."

"So that's how he did that," Kiba said.

"What do you mean time limit?" Shikamaru asked.

Gako was happy to explain. "You see, I can't just make as many clones of me as possible. There's a time limit that they all have before they disappear. After training with this jutsu for a long time, my limit reached four hours. The time limit is automatically divided by the amount of me's I have out. Right now, there are four of me so my clones will each stay out for an hour. Don't worry though, that's more than enough time to kill you four. I have to wait twenty-four hours before I can use this jutsu again, so I'm going to make sure I kill you all now."

"That's an interesting jutsu," Choji commented.

"Oh really?" Gako asked with feigned surprise, "Because I haven't shown you the best part."

The four Konoha ninja prepared themselves for whatever would come next. "And what's that?" Kiba asked.

A wide smile appeared on the real Gako's face as his clones then spread out. He then began forming seals as fast as he could.

Neji's eyes widened as he watched the clones run around. "The rest of the explosive tags are fake!"

"Raiton: Juuden Ya!" Electricity charged between Gako's hands before be clapped them together, sending a large lighting arrow straight forward.

"Move!" Shikamaru commanded. The four ninja jumped away, dodging the attack. Shikamaru, however, didn't notice the Gako clone move behind him.

The clone reached in its kunai holster and pulled out a large packet of water. He threw it up into the air before forming a few hand signs. "Suiton: Suitou Dangan!" The packet of water ripped apart leaving small water bubbles floating in the air. The bubbles then shot forward, aiming at Shikamaru. Shikamaru heard the attack but was nowhere near fast enough to dodge it.

"Nikudan Sensha!"

Shikamaru turned just in time to see the huge boulder that is Choji blow aside the bubbles and head toward the clone.

Across the room, Neji was already fighting a clone in close combat. He attacked fiercely but the clone seemed to dodge his attacks with ease. As Neji struck forward with one powerful strike, the clone jumped back to dodge and perform quick seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

"What?" Neji's eyes widened at the huge fireball that shot from the clone's mouth and headed towards him. He quickly began spinning and emitting chakra in all directions. "Kaiten!" As Neji spun around, a troubling thought crept into his head. '_He used lightning, water, and fire element jutsu! How can this be…?'_

"Gatsuga!" Kiba noticed Neji's situation, but he didn't have the time to help. Kiba and Akamaru both flew at one clone as fierce tornadoes, Kiba aiming for his chest and Akamaru aiming for his back.

The clone chuckled. "Doton: Aian Mamori!" The clone didn't move and inch as he was hit from the front and the back. "Surely you can do better than this," he taunted.

Kiba looked in shock to see the clone's body getting hit from both sides but not taking any damage. "What the hell?"

In the center of the room, Shikamaru looked around him to see each of his friends in the middle of a fierce battle. He then looked ahead to see the real Gako standing before him. "How about I clear the room a bit," he said while reaching into his kunai holster. Shikamaru quickly crouched down and extended his shadow toward the boy. Before it could connect, Gako jumped back and flung out dozens of small smoke bombs.

The dark smoke covered the entire room. Shikamaru desperately looked around but couldn't see anything but smoke. Suddenly, he heard three loud explosions come from all around room. "Choji! Kiba! Neji!" He called out his friends names but received no response.

"Fuuton: Kyoumou Hitofuki!"

Shikamaru suddenly felt strong wind blowing all around him. The wind blew away the smoke, guiding it up and outside. Shikamaru looked around to see only him and Gako still left in the room. He also observed three holes blown into the walls. He turned back and stared at his enemy.

"There, now we can have our one-on-one fight in peace. Shall we?" he asked while pointing at another wall. On queue, another explosive tag went off and blew a hole into the wall, revealing a tunnel. Gako walked toward the tunnel but stopped when he noticed Shikamaru wasn't following him. "What's wrong?"

"Your clones can all use a different nature manipulation, correct?" Gako nodded. "Well I've watched you and it seems you used two natures while the others used one. I guess I'm right in assuming that you are the real one."

"Of course. You want to be the one to take me down, right?" Gako asked before turning around and walking into the tunnel.

Shikamaru took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. Finally, he let out a large sigh and followed his opponent into the tunnel. "Damn right I am."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Unfamiliar Jutsu

Kinmotsu no Jutsu: Gentei Seimei Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Forbidden Jutsu: Limited Life Shadow Clones

Raiton: Juuden Ya – Lightning Style: Electric Arrow

Suiton: Suitou Dangan – Water Style: Bubble Bullet

Nikudan Sensha – Human Bullet Tank

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu

Kaiten – Rotation

Gatsuga – Fang over Fang

Doton: Aian Mamori – Earth Style: Iron Defense

Fuuton: Kyoumou Hitofuki – Wind Style: Fierce Gust


	17. The Art of Battle

Chapter 16

The Art of Battle

Only a sorrowful sign resounded throughout the large room that was hundreds of feet underground. This was a place that a certain Hyuga kunoichi was really not looking forward to seeing again any time soon. After rejoining the conscious world only a few seconds ago, her pale lavender eyes observed her surroundings, taking in the usual dull stone walls and lanterns. _'Captured again?'_ She tried her best not to let her mind enter self-conscious mode as she tried to move her arms and legs. She quickly found that to be a difficult task with the thick rope tied around her wrists and ankles. _'Oh great…'_

Hinata tried her best to sit up before crawling over to the nearest wall and leaning against it. Almost as soon as her back hit the wall, her eyes lit up when an idea crossed her mind. It would be difficult with her hands tied behind her back, but she knew she had to manage. With her back against the wall, she pushed her head back and her feet down, slowly lifting her midsection off of the ground and giving her enough room to move her bound hands from behind her back to under her legs. She thanked her natural flexibility as she maneuvered her hands around her legs until they rested in her lap.

'_I hope this works.'_ Still in the process of her escape, Hinata leaned forward until she was able to grab the ropes that were tied to her feet. '_If it worked on stone then it should work on this.' _Chakra flowed to her hands as she began to concentrate. Her chakra was molded and formed into large needles as it poured into the rope. It's been a while since Hinata had felt so proud of herself. She gave a triumphant smile when the chakra cut clean through the rope. After using her now free feet to stand, she glanced around the room, searching for an exit.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

Hinata was startled as an orange blur fell down from a hole in the ceiling that she had just noticed. "N-Naruto-kun?" She watched Naruto jump out of the way as another figure fell and slammed his fist into the ground. Naruto landed next to Hinata and they both watched the enemy emerge from the dust.

"This is it," Koga said as he walked to the side, still staring at the duo, "no more retreating and no more backup. It's going to be either me or you two. Someone has to die in this room."

"You must be crazy if you think we made it this far just to die to you!" Naruto responded angrily.

Koga glared back at the jinchuuriki. "Sorry, but you don't have a choice in the matter." He then clapped his hands together and formed a seal. "Ikimono Kensei." As he called out his bloodline, two large eagle wings emerged from his back and flapped vigorously until he hovered in mid-air. The paw of a tiger appeared on his right hand and his left arm wiggled around until a long snake was in its place. Along with his previously known transformations, his legs also went through a change. Strong muscles grew under his skin and the large but powerful legs of a kangaroo appeared. What looked like a normal bump also appeared in the center of his forehead. It looked normal until it began to grow several inches from his face, becoming a large, sharp horn that normally belonged to a grown rhinoceros.

Both Naruto and Hinata stared in disgust at the abomination before them. "That is the ugliest thing I have ever seen," Naruto commented.

Hinata stared at all of the strong and dangerous body parts that appeared on her enemy. "I'm not sure we can handle this," she said somewhat unsure of herself. The fact that her wrists were still bound together didn't make her feel any more confident.

"Together we can," Naruto said encouragingly, earning a small blush from his comrade.

"Umm…Naruto-kun…" Hinata said slowly, holding up her tied hands for him to see.

"Oh damn! I don't have a kunai either."

"Also, you two don't have the time!"

The leaf duo quickly jumped back as Koga flew between them with his tiger paw ready to strike and draw blood. After missing his targets, he turned around and let his feet touch the wall. With one mighty push from his kangaroo legs, he shot at Naruto far too fast for the blonde boy to react. Naruto grabbed the tiger paw with his hands but the force was too strong him to stop the attack. Not only did the tiger claws dig into his left hand, leaving drips of blood, but the speed of the strike also allowed Koga to drive the leaf ninja back to crash into the wall.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata ran and jumped toward the dust that was blown from the wall. As soon as her feet left the ground, Koga emerged from the dust and flew at her at top speed. A struggling Naruto was being pulled behind him as his snake arm wrapped around the boy's leg. Hinata grabbed Koga's paw when he reached her, but just like Naruto, him speed was enough to push her back. '_C'mon…'_ Hinata thought desperately before she finally managed to get one of Koga's sharp claws in between the ropes on her wrist. When the sound ninja noticed this, he quickly gave her one last push while also flinging Naruto forward. The leaf ninja crashed into each other before colliding into the wall.

Naruto spat up a bit of blood as he landed back onto the floor. "Are you okay?"

Hinata wiped off the blood that dripped from her mouth. "I'm okay," she responded. She was relieved as she threw away the torn rope that was once tied around her wrists. "Now I can fight, but how do we stop this guy?"

"If I can stop him and reduce his speed…can you do some damage?" her crush asked while looking at her.

The Hyuga girl nodded. "I can do it."

Naruto ran forward and jumped at the hovering ninja. Koga flew to another wall and kicked off of it to fly at the boy with full speed. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" As soon as the real Naruto was hit in the chest, two clones appeared on both sides of Koga, each grabbing a wing. Koga growled as the clones yanked him to the ground.

"Damn you!" When Koga hit the ground, his wings flapped frantically until he was free. He quickly got back onto his feet and allowed his snake arm to lunge out and sink its fangs into the clone that was on his left. As it disappeared, Koga reached out with his tiger paw and slashed the face of the other clone, causing it to disappear as well. "It'll take more than this to defeat me." Koga then noticed Naruto running straight at him. With one thrust of his head, Naruto was impaled by the large rhinoceros horn. Koga clenched his teeth when this Naruto also disappeared in a puff of smoke. '_Of course it was another clone.'_

Using his senses and quick reflexes, Koga quickly spun around struck another Naruto with his tiger paw. His eyes widened as the clone disappeared and, immediately afterwards, a hand flew out of the smoke and struck his arm. He winced as chakra flowed into his arm and hit his internal chakra system. He tried to move back to avoid another attack, but a kick in the back from Naruto sent his chest forward and into another gentle fist strike from Hinata.

"Enough!" Koga kicked off of the ground with his powerful legs to avoid another hit. He reached into his holster and tossed a dozen shuriken at the ninja below, causing them both to jump away. '_That girl,'_ he thought while ignoring the pain from the gentle fist strikes, '_she's becoming more trouble than I originally planned. She must be the first to go.'_ Koga gave one mighty kick off of the ceiling and flew straight at the spot where Hinata had just landed.

"Oh no," Hinata squeezed out before the enemy crashed into her, causing dust to fly everywhere.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled.

Underneath the dust, Hinata clenched her teeth in pain as Koga's claws dug into her right leg. "Say goodbye." His snake arm showed its tongue and fangs before striking at the girl's neck.

"Rasengan!" The dust was quickly blown away and the blue ball of swirling chakra slammed into Koga's back, sending him flying into the wall. Naruto quickly turned his attention to Hinata and reached out his hand. "Are you okay?"

Hinata managed a small nod before reaching to grab his offered hand. She only felt the slight touch of his fingertips before Koga's paw crashed into the blond boy's chest, sending him flying away into another wall, leaving only bits of coughed up blood in the air.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata began to jump forward at her enemy but a sharp pain in her right leg halted her movements. _'My leg…'_

Koga smirked at her before flinging out his snake arm, allowing it to whip around and slap Hinata in the face, forcing her back to the ground. She let out a cry as she landed on her already badly injured right leg. Koga could barely contain his joy as he looked from the struggling girl in pain on the ground to the dust in the corner that covered the battered and bruised jinchuuriki. "I honestly thought this would last a little longer, but it looks like this is the end."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

The lazy chunin stared down the boy that stood before him. Now with all of the talking done, Shikamaru's mind was prepared for battle. '_The elements he used are lightning and wind. He seems like a person that would fully utilize his elemental affinities. If that's true, then this could be a problem for me.'_

Gako smirked as he looked at his foe. "Aw, why the serious face? Relax! I have a surprise for you. Look over there in that corner."

Shikamaru looked over to where Gako's eyes had turned. Near the corner of the room he spotted a brown bag lying on the floor. It was open and he could see a few paper bombs and shuriken inside it.

"Look familiar? Those are all of your weapons that we took from you when your mission first began. I know this room has no obstacles or sunlight, so there is no way you can beat me one-on-one like this. Take back your weapons as a token of my generosity."

The boy only received a cold stare in return. "Generosity? That's funny, because this seems an awful lot like pity to me."

"Does it really matter when it can influence whether you live or die?" Gako asked.

"I don't need your pity," Shikamaru responded quick and firm.

The expression on Gako's face became serious. "Really?" After receiving no reply, he sighed before clapping his hands together. "Juuden Ya!" Electricity jumped between his hands and an arrow made of lightning was released. The attack made no attempt to strike Shikamaru. It flew to the side and struck the brown bag, blasting it into dust. "There goes your last slim chance of winning."

"Oh, you think so?"

Gako was not enjoying the serious yet nonchalant replies he was getting. That's when he decided that action would receive a far more appreciative response. He jumped into the air and clapped his hands together, shooting out another arrow, this time aiming at the leaf chunin.

Shikamaru jumped back to dodge but noticed more arrows heading his way. He began running around the room, narrowly dodging each arrow that came his way. "That's the spirit!" Gako formed new seals and then slammed his palm to the ground. "Futon: Daichi Torippu!" A thin wave of wind shot from his hand and flew in all directions along the floor. The move was unexpected and Shikamaru didn't have time to dodge it. The wave hit his feet with far more power than he had expected. His feet were completely blown off of the ground and his hands and wrists stung as he barely broke the fall to save his face.

"Here's another!" Gako slapped the ground again to send out another wave. Shikamaru quickly got on all fours and jumped into the air to dodge the attack. Gako was right on his tail as he also jumped and aimed a punch at the leaf ninja's face. Shikamaru was able to dodge the face shot but not the quick gut shot that followed. Even while still in the air, Gako was able to move behind his foe and elbow him in the back, causing Shikamaru to fall and hit the ground.

'_He's fast too…'_ Shikamaru jumped to his feet to avoid Gako landing on his back. Before he could even compose himself, a flurry of punches was being thrown his way. Shikamaru's top-notch senses and reflexes were barely enough to dodge and block the punches. The ones that he dodged, he could feel the air vibrate on his cheek. The ones that he blocked, he could feel the strength behind it attempt to shatter his bones. Shikamaru knew he had to avoid getting hit at all costs. As Gako launched one last powerful punch, Shikamaru jumped a few inches back to dodge it. Gako immediately smirked before clapping his hands together and charging the lightning. Shikamaru's eyes widened as his feet touched the ground and Gako charged the attack from only inches away.

"Juuden Ya!" Shikamaru had few options left to him at this point. With the attack clearly aiming for his head, the chunin leaned back as far as he could. His chest was nearly parallel to the ground as the attack whizzed over him. Time seemed to move in slow motion and he could clearly see the sparks of electricity in the attack fly past. A few weeks ago, Ino had a random limbo party and invited all of her friends. Did he want to go? Hell no. Is he glad that she forced him to? Well…he is now.

As soon as he moved his upper body into an upward position again, Gako's fist connected with his cheek and knocked him to the ground. Gako stood over the boy and charged another arrow. Shikamaru clenched his teeth, knowing that he couldn't dodge the arrow this time. '_Only one option left…'_

"It's over!" Only a second before Gako would have charged the attack long enough to fire, his charging was interrupted when the entire area around him was covered in smoke. He stared wide eyed at the surrounding darkness. "A smoke bomb? No way!" He jumped back and landed outside of the smoke. He looked around the room but couldn't spot his enemy. He did, however, spot the shadow that emerged from the smoke and aimed for his. He jumped into the air to dodge the shadow, but didn't notice Shikamaru emerge from the smoke until his jaw was knocked aside from the leaf ninja's punch. Gako fell to the ground and Shikamaru landed a few feet away from him.

"Surprised?" Shikamaru asked as he cracked his knuckles.

Gako rubbed his jaw before standing up. "I had blown up your weapons. Where did the smoke bombs come from?"

"You know, your problem is that you're basing this fight on a lot of different assumptions. You blew up my weapons and assumed that I didn't have anymore on me."

"But you didn't actually enter the village! You had no time to restock."

"In that case, then you underestimate me and my comrades." Gako growled as he suddenly realized his flaw. "Neji is very skilled at close ranged taijutsu. Even on a long mission, he isn't someone who would use up all of his weapons and traps. While we were falling into this underground place, he also didn't mind giving me all of his items."

Gako smirked. "Alright, you got me. It was a good hit too," he said while rubbing his jaw. "But it won't happen again."

"No, it will," Shikamaru assured him. "I want you to remember that punch. That was for the Hokage. You and your brother have no right to impersonate a woman as great as her." Shikamaru gave his foe a cold glare while Gako returned it. "Now…my next punch…" Shikamaru formed a familiar seal and his shadow slid forward. Gako jumped into the air and flung a few shuriken at the chunin. Shikamaru jumped up to dodge the weapons but Gako already had an arrow of lightning charged.

"Juuden Ya!" The arrow flew forward pierced Shikamaru right in the chest. Gako's momentary joy faded as he watched the arrow not really piece his enemy but rather fly through him without any damage being done. '_Is it…'_ Shikamaru's body began to shift around until it faded into light. '_…a clone?'_

"This next punch…"

Gako heard the voice behind him but couldn't dodge anything while still airborne. He tried to turn his head around but a powerful fist crashed into jaw yet again. "…this is for Temari!" Gako spat out a bit of blood this time as he fell and slammed into the ground.

Shikamaru landed a few feet away and continued to stare at his foe. "You impersonated her, attacked her, and tried to turn us all against her. None of my friends are traitors, but for you to try and change that…is unforgivable."

Gako growled on the ground before standing up again. "You leaf scum…"

"Your constant underestimation of me and my friends will be your downfall. The next punch…" Shikamaru held out his clenched fist in full view. "Will be for all of the people you hurt during this mission…for all of my comrades that you put through hell…and for me, the guy that you feel is obviously far weaker than you. My next punch…will end this fight."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Unfamiliar Jutsu:

Futon: Daichi Torippu – Wind Style: Ground Trip


	18. Clone Assault: Fire and Earth

Chapter 18

Clone Assault: Fire and Earth

The sound of heavy breathing emanated from the center of the room. The loud, pained breaths were barely audible above the sounds of crackling fire scattered throughout the area. As the dark smoke attacked his lungs, a harsh cough forced its way from Neji's throat. The Hyuga boy tried to settle his throat as his eyes continued to scan the surrounding area. With veins bulging from the sides of his eyes, the byakugan surveyed the space all around him, eventually detecting a newly launched attack.

Neji jerked his body around and blocked the speeding fist with his right palm. He quickly jumped back as a kunai was lunged toward his chest. Before a counter attack could formulate in his mind, the kunai was dropped to the ground and his eyes caught on to a few all too familiar handsigns.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Damn it!" Neji jumped high into the air to avoid the speeding fireball aimed to scorch his body. He clenched his teeth when he noticed that a strip of fire covered the area where he intended to land.

"Time to burn, Hyuga!" Gako appeared right above the leaf ninja, aiming a powerful kick to his enemy's face. Instead of his foot connecting with the Hyuga's face, he found it being repelled by the concentrated chakra being released from Neji's cheek. Neji quickly wrapped his hands around the foot and swung his foe downward into the fire below, simultaneously giving himself enough force to swing aside and avoid the blazing heat.

Neji landed on a small piece of land that had yet to be covered in fire. As another cough was released, his byakugan once again scanned the surrounding area. _'Fire covers a majority of the floor in this room. The only exit is the door in which we entered through.'_ He tried to clear his throat only to find himself coughing more. _'Too much smoke is being concentrated in this area. Without my byakugan I wouldn't even be able to see, but with my breathing impaired its obvious who has the advantage here.'_

"Heads up!"

Neji pushed himself off of the ground just in time to dodge the sphere of fire being hurled at him. He forced chakra to his feet and clung to the side of a wall. _'Not only can he somehow see and breathe in this dark smoke, but he can also move freely within the fire and attack. I have to somehow take away those advantages…'_ His train of thought was broken as he entitled his head to the side to avoid a powerful punch. His quick reflexes allowed his left palm to quickly fly towards Gako's chest, but a few steps back kept the attack out of range.

Both ninja clung to the side of the wall, staring the other down. Neji's face remained intent and steady, though Gako's could only remain serious for seconds before breaking out into a wide smirk. "C'mon Neji. You're a jounin so you know what kind of situation you're in. This smoke and fire doesn't faze me one bit, but you won't be able to take it for much longer will you?"

Instead of uttering a reply, Neji charged the sound ninja and readied another assault. Before the distance was completely closed, Gako jumped off of the wall and landed on a bare piece of land. Neji jumped down after him, his palm already charged with chakra. The strike was forced at Gako's face, but the enemy smirked and quickly jumped backwards into the blazing flame. Neji landed on the bare ground and his byakugan quickly found his target approaching.

Gako descended from above, a kunai ready to pierce his foe. He grinned as he glanced at the fire burning all around Neji. "There's nowhere for you to run!"

Seconds before the attack could pierce his skull, Neji jumped backward directly into the fire. Gako landed on the ground with a smirk as he watched Neji's body get enveloped by the flames. "And that's the end."

"Hakke Kuushou!"

His eyes widened when he heard the voice, but before he could brace himself, a powerful wave of air crashed into his chest, sending him flying back and sliding onto the ground. He quickly jumped back onto his feet and wiped dust from his cheek. "Why won't you burn!?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Neji's palm slammed into Gako's back, sending a wave of chakra into his chakra system. Gako stumbled forward onto another piece of bare land. He tried to ignore the constricting of his muscles and the fluctuation of his chakra as he stood straight up. In front of him, Neji slowly emerged from the fire. The sound nin's eyes narrowed at the blue glow that soon faded from Neji's body.

"How did you…"

"As a member of the Hyuga clan, who are known for their superior chakra control skills, it was not hard to figure out." Another cough was uttered, but this time it was from the sound ninja. Gako clenched his teeth at the blood that was coughed onto his palm. "You emit chakra from your pores and use it to repel the fire. For a ninja with normal chakra, like me, it takes a large amountof it to keep the shield and maintain it. For you, however, you use fire natured chakra to repel the fire more efficiently. My version of your skill is imperfect, but it still serves its purpose."

Angered words emerged from Gako's throat. "Damn you!" His hands quickly formed handsigns and rose to his mouth. "Katon: Goukakyuu!" Neji jumped to the side into more fire to dodge the fireball soaring towards him. "So what if you found out my secret!? That means nothing!"

"It means everything."

Gako's eyes widened once again as the voice resounded from only inches behind him. He clenched his right fist and spun around, swinging it at Neji's face. The leaf jounin ducked to dodge the attack. As he crouched down, his arms extended and his feet moved into his special stance. "Your skill is chakra based. Therefore, your abilities mean nothing once your chakra is sealed."

A low growl was uttered and Gako's fist prepared to clobber Neji's face. Before the blow could connect, more determined words were spoken. "Hakke Rokujuuyonsho!" Neji dodged the strike aimed as his face, and with blinding speed, he extended both his index and middle fingers and proceeded to thrust them into his opponent's chest. "Two palm!"

Gako took an involuntary step back, and before his mind could even register what happened, Neji's blows began connecting with his chest once again. "Four palm." As he imagined the Eight Trigram Symbol imprinted below his feet, Neji let himself go, his fingers almost instinctually finding his opponent's chakra points. "Eight palm. Sixteen palm. Thirty-two palm." Gako slowly felt his body going numb. His muscles refused to respond, the chakra being forced into his system sealing off his strength. Blood began leaking from his mouth, though he didn't have the strength to wipe it away. "Sixty-four palm!" One last hit was forced into Gako's body. Even though it was only two strikes, Gako felt his chakra points being struck in multiple places. His body fell back as he desperately searched for the strength to stand. Neji watched as his foe fell back and was consumed by the flames.

* * *

Laughter echoed throughout the room. The loud, condescending tone pierced the leaf ninja's ears, sending waves of anger flowing through him. He tried to overcome his heavy breathing as he rose from his knees. He clenched both his fists and ran toward his enemy once again.

"Looks like the doggie doesn't know when to play dead," Gako said with a smirk.

"Gatsuga!" Kiba jumped into the air and spun around to create his familiar flying tornado. Gako didn't move an inch as the attack crashed into his body. He smiled as the jutsu tried to bore into him, but found no success. "Damn it!" Kiba released the jutsu and jumped away just in time to dodge a powerful swing of Gako's arm.

"Are you giving up yet?" came the sound nin's witty response.

The dog nin clenched his teeth as he looked at his opponent's wide smirk. "Just like your damn brother," he murmured. He remembered how the sight of Koga's condescending eyes would throw him into fits of rage. Unfortunately, he was getting the same feeling from the twin.

A loud bark came from his side. Kiba looked down at his lifelong comrade. "Are you okay?" The memory flashed in his mind when Gako's arm smashed into Akamaru's body and sent him crashing into a wall. Luckily, an energetic bark told him all he needed to know. "Okay then…" His eyes fell upon his target. "We have to figure out a way get through his iron defense."

"Can you find a way?" Gako yelled as he dashed forward towards the leaf duo. Kiba ducked under a quickly launched punch. Simultaneously, Kiba aimed a kick at one of the boy's leg and Akamaru prepared to sink his fangs in the other. "Aian Mamori!" Kiba winced as his leg connected with what felt like an iron pole. Akamaru howled in pain as his teeth also failed to sink into his prey. Gako prepared a strong kick to the dog's chest, but Kiba quickly grabbed his partner and jumped away from the attack. "Darn, so close."

As he landed on the ground, Kiba set down his partner and gave him a pat on the back. "C'mon Akamaru, we can't let up. We have to keep fighting until we can come up with an idea. Can you keep it up?" A determined growl gave him his answer. "Alright then, let's go." Kiba clapped his hands together and after a puff of smoke, a clone of himself appeared as Akamaru. They both formed their high-flying tornadoes and flew top speed at their foe.

"When will you two come up with something different?" The duo smashed into both of Gako's shoulders, but the sound ninja didn't even flinch. "Sooner or later, I'll have to end this game!" He swung both of his fists at the duo but they each stopped their attack to avoid it. They both crouched down on all fours and made a grab at both of their foe's ankles. "Think my ankles are my weak points?" Both claws struck his ankles but there was no response to the attack. "Think again!" Gako raised his left leg and prepared a kick to the target on his right.

"Akamaru!" Kiba jumped forward and intercepted the blow. He grabbed Gako's foot and pulled with all his might, trying to give his comrade an opening. Concern flashed onto Gako's face as he lost his balance and was pulled forward, his body completely leaving the ground. Akamaru slashed his claws at Gako's face before the sound nin's fist crashed into Kiba's chest, causing him to bump into Akamaru and send them both flying backward. Kiba rolled back and rose to one knee. Akamaru moved towards him and snuggled to his master. "Thanks, I'm alright."

"Damn it!"

Kiba looked up to narrow his eyes at his enemy, but instead he found his eyes slightly widening. His eyes fell onto Gako's cheek, the claw marks and dripping blood clearly visible. "What's this? The iron bastard is human after all."

Gako quickly wiped the blood from his cheek. His tone was now far less playful. "How dare you two…" Before the sentence could be finished, Kiba and Akamaru were already speeding towards him.

'_How did Akamaru's attack damage him? We have to figure things out before he can launch a counter attack.'_ Kiba's claws clashed into Gako's cheek, causing no response. "I kind of expected that." He ducked under Gako's left flying fist and kicked at the boy's left foot. Still no response. Akamaru quickly moved and slashed at Gako's other foot.

"Damn you pests!" Gako raised his right foot to attack, before quickly returning it to its original spot and decided to aim a punch at Akamaru's head. The dog quickly dodged the attack and clawed at the other ankle. Kiba followed suit and aimed at the same ankle. _'Damn they are going after my legs.'_ Gako raised his right leg to kick the duo away.

"Gotcha." Just as the attack was launched, Kiba lunged straight into it. The foot crashed into his chest and stomped down onto it fiercely. Instead of howling in pain as Gako would like, Kiba smirked and tightly embraced the foot on top of his chest. "Go for it, Akamaru!" Gako clenched his teeth as he lost his balance and was pulled onto his one foot that stood on Kiba's chest. Horror flashed in Gako's eyes as Akamaru jumped and slammed his claws into his chest. A small yelp escaped the sound nin's lips as he fell back onto the floor.

Kiba smirked as he slowly rose to his feet, all the while holding his chest that was previously stomped upon. "Looks like I found your secret."

Gako growled in anger as he quickly jumped to his feet. He stared daggers over at Kiba.

"The key is the ground. Whenever we attacked you and your defense was up, at least one of your feet were also firmly planted onto the ground. That first time Akamaru attacked you, I pulled your leg and for a brief second your other leg left the ground to try and regain your balance. The second time, you stomped on my chest and I pulled you up until you were standing on me only. You're vulnerable whenever your feet lose contact with the ground, am I right?"

For a moment, only low growls were audible through Gako's mouth before finally words emerged. "Don't think you've won now that you know how my jutsu works. At least you should now know that if I never move my feet from the ground, there's nothing you can do to attack me!"

"I disagree with that," Kiba said with a smirk and Akamaru barked beside him. "If you won't lift your feet from the ground, then I'll have to rip the ground from under your feet!" The leaf duo charged once more and formed their twin flying attacks once again. A hint of panic emerged from Gako when he noticed the attacks aiming downward and blowing away chunks of earth as they approached the ground beneath him.

"Damn it!"

Gako was forced to jump into the air as the tornadoes ripped by underneath him. They both immediately rose up and flew at the airborne ninja. The sound ninja's mind couldn't conceive a plan fast enough. Both attacks slammed into his chest and midsection, this time causing damage. Gako yelled as the attacks pushed him back and drove him into a wall, causing a resulting crash.

* * *

A/N: Yeeeeaaaah. Ummmm…here's a chapter (_ducks and covers_)


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